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."

When 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