All children deserve a safe and loving home. Unfortunately, there are times when caregivers cannot fully meet a child’s safety needs and it becomes necessary to temporarily remove the child from their home. When this occurs, our goal is to help caregivers and children reunify by enhancing protective factors and reducing the risk factors that led to the child being removed from the home.

Safe & Connected™

We provide this path toward reunification through our Safe & Connected™ model, which aides our team in:

• Performing comprehensive and balanced assessments
• Treating all individuals with dignity and respect
• Collaborating with other case professionals
• Including the child and family in meaningful ways

Watch this video to learn more about our Safe & Connected™ model.

The Reunification Process

The most important activity of reunification is visitation. Children who are visited routinely by their parents and/or siblings experience less anxiety, depression, feelings of abandonment, and behavioral adjustment compared to children who are not visited regularly.  For visitation to be successful, a visitation plan that outlines when and where visits will be, who should attend, what should be brought, and other expectations are key. This plan should change as the case progresses. In addition to ensuring visitation is occurring, we begin working toward the goal of reunification through skills-based intervention.

Our skills-based interventions seek to leverage and enhance strengths and mitigate risk. Our team will work closely with the children and their caregivers to ensure that the family possesses the skills necessary to manage risk and promote well-being. We meet at times convenient to the family and adjust the intensity to meet each family’s unique needs.

If you have any questions, contact KVC at (402) 880-4926 or email
NEClinicalandPreventionReferrals@kvc.org

Communication and Collaboration

Throughout the reunification process, we coordinate and collaborate with everyone involved in the caregiver and child’s lives to ensure the best outcome possible for the child. We make ourselves available to all of the child’s caregivers 24/7 to support reunification. We not only help prepare for the child’s return home, but we are also available once the child is back living in the home. We continue providing support to help maintain safety as they are re-adjusting to caring for the child full-time.

If you have any questions, contact KVC at (402) 880-4926 or email
NEClinicalandPreventionReferrals@kvc.org