Statute-at-a-Glance: Reasonable Efforts to Reunify Families

What Are Reasonable Efforts?

Reasonable efforts refers to efforts made by State social services agencies to provide the assistance and services needed to preserve and reunify families.

Nearly all the States have enacted statutes requiring the provision of services that will assist families in remedying the conditions that brought the child and family into the child welfare system. The statutes in most States, however, use a broad definition of what constitutes reasonable efforts. Some terms commonly used include "family reunification," "family preservation," "family support," and "preventive services."

hen Reasonable Efforts Are Required

Federal law1 has long required State agencies to demonstrate that reasonable efforts have been made to provide assistance and services to prevent the unnecessary removal of a child from his or her home, and make it possible for a child who has been placed in out-of-home care to be reunified with his or her family.

In many States, the statutes also require that when a determination is made that reunification of the family is not in the best interest of the child, efforts be made to finalize another permanent placement for the child. Under the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA), while reasonable efforts to preserve and reunify families are still required, the child's health and safety constitute the paramount concern in determining reasonable efforts to be made.2

When Reasonable Efforts Are Not Required

ASFA mandates that reasonable efforts to preserve the family are not required when:

*The parent has subjected the child to aggravated circumstances (as defined by State law, which definition may include, but need not be limited to, abandonment, torture, chronic abuse, and sexual abuse).

*The parent has committed murder of another child of the parent.

*The parent has committed voluntary manslaughter of another child of the parent.

*The parent has aided or abetted, attempted, conspired, or solicited to commit such a murder or such voluntary manslaughter.

*The parent has committed a felony assault that results in serious bodily injury to the child or another child of the parent.

*The parental rights of the parent to a sibling of the child have been terminated involuntarily.
Approximately3 14 States and Puerto Rico provide for one or more of these additional grounds for not providing reasonable efforts:

*Failure of the parent to comply with the terms of a reunification plan.

*Incarceration of the parent for a long term in relation to the child's age where there is no suitable relative to care for the child.

*Mental illness of the parent of such duration or severity that there is little likelihood of the parent being able to resume care for the child within a reasonable time.

*Chronic abuse of drugs or alcohol where the parent has refused or failed a treatment plan.

1 Beginning with the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980 (P.L.§ 96-272). Back
2 States must comply with the requirements outlined in ASFA as a condition for receiving certain Federal funds. Back
3 The word approximately is used throughout the State Statutes Series to stress the fact that statutes are constantly revised and updated. Back

The Statutes-at-a-Glance listings summarize specific sections of each State's code. While every attempt has been made to be as complete as possible, additional information on these topics may be in other sections of a State's code as well as in agency regulations, case law, and informal practices and procedures. Readers interested in interpretation of specific statutory provisions within an individual jurisdiction should consult with professionals within the State familiar with the statutes' implementation