Peer support services in family reunification process in child welfare: perceptions of parents and family coaches

Abstract

Despite the fact that family reunification remains the foremost permanency-planning goal for children in the child welfare system, reunification is not always successful and reentry into foster care after reunification is hardly a rare event due to parental unaddressed needs, stress, and lack of supports. This study explored a peer-delivered pre- and post-reunification support program for child welfare-involved families. Using qualitative focus groups and interviews, experiences of parents with the peer support services were examined. The findings suggested that the presence of a family coach with a shared experience remained a critical source of support for many parents, providing emotional, informational, instructional, and advocacy supports while cultivating the special feelings of connection, comfort, trust, and guidance. The efforts to ensure sustainable permanency outcomes should seriously consider the important role that family coaches play as supporters, guides, and trusted confidantes to a vulnerable population of parents in need of more comprehensive emotional and concrete services.