ABSTRACT
The provision of services to families whose children are in out-of-home care has been initiated and driven by state and local child welfare law but also operates within the timelines mandated by the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980. This chapter identifies a useful strategy for birth parent group work in an agency context devoted to a strengths approach. It describes a group designed to assist and support birth families in developing a self-assessment of strengths and needs for family reunification. In 1994, the Children's Aid Society, with the support of the New York State Department of Social Services, instituted an adjustment of the agency's philosophy of service concerning foster parents and birth families. The use of the mediating group and the process of self-assessment produce a sense of membership that is unavailable to the parent in individual casework counseling.
