June is National Reunification Month! During this time, we celebrate family and intensify our efforts to make it possible for more families to be supported in achieving permanency through reunification. We also celebrate the accomplishments of families that have overcome an array of challenges to reunify safely and successfully. Each year, hundreds of Missouri children are reunified with their families after time apart in foster care for a variety of reasons – most commonly neglect allegations. In 2022, 2,276 Missouri children were reunified.
The only thing better than successful family reunification is families successfully staying unified. Friday, June 9th, Connected Communities-Thriving Families parents and champions came together at The Core Collective at Saint Vincent to identify ways we can better support families staying safely together in their communities, preventing separation. This convening culminated in our celebrating families coming back together following foster care. Carol and Donny Martin shared their journey as parents in the foster care system and what we all can learn to better support children and parents. Mayor Brian Jackson of Beverly Hills, MO, signed the Family Reunification Month Proclamation on behalf of The 24:1 Municipal Partnership, and called us to action to show up for and walk with our community members in their struggles, and reminding us that we are "much more than our worst moments."
A number of national organizations support National Reunification Month, including the American Bar Association, National Project to Improve Representation for Parents Involved in the Child Welfare System, the National Association of Counsel for Children, the National Council of Juvenile and Family Court Judges, The National Center for State Courts, the National Foster Care Coalition and the National Quality Improvement Center on Non-Resident Fathers and the Child Welfare System.
If you would like to become involved with Connected Communities-Thriving Families, please contact mchant@mocoalitionforchildren.org, or leave a comment on this post.