Parent Education vs. Parent Involvement

The Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (PL 96-272) requires that a permanent plan be developed for all youngsters in out-of-home placement. It also requires that agencies provide services to prevent placement out of the home, and that where placement cannot be prevented, the child is to be returned to the biological family as soon as possible. Following the passage of 96-272 increasing pressure developed in the practice community to reunify families, with extensive discussion focusing on the merits of the overall outcome. However, there has been very little emphasis a the systematic investigation of which kinds of reunification efforts work best. This study provided three types of parental involvement at Five Acres-The Boys' and Girls' Aid Society of Los Angeles County, and carefully measured to ascertain which of the different models was most successful toward the goal of reunifying families.