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Summary
Balancing family reunification and parental rights termination requires careful consideration of parental visiting in foster care. Agencies should promote meaningful visits while statutes may allow termination for non-visitation.
Area of Science:
- Child Welfare
- Family Law
- Social Work
Background:
- Parental visiting is crucial in foster care cases, impacting both family reunification and termination of parental rights.
- A balance is needed between using visitation as a tool for reunification and as grounds for terminating parental rights.
Purpose of the Study:
- To advocate for a balanced approach to parental visiting in foster care.
- To recommend policy and practice changes for agencies and state statutes.
Main Methods:
- The study presents a conceptual argument for balancing competing interests in parental visiting.
- It reviews the dual role of visitation in foster care proceedings.
Main Results:
- Current practices may inadvertently discourage meaningful parental visits.
- A dual approach is proposed: statutes allowing termination for non-visitation, coupled with agency promotion of visits.
Conclusions:
- State statutes should permit termination of parental rights for failure to visit.
- Foster care agencies must actively promote and facilitate meaningful parental visits.
- Agencies should review their practices to ensure they do not impede parent-child contact.