The care system needs to put more emphasis on supporting social workers to reunite looked-after child with their family, explains Foundations’ Harpreet Ahdan, who has contributed to a Practice Guide on the issue.

This content was originally published on CYP Now as an op-ed on 9 July 2026.

We know that reunification is one of the most common ways that children leave care, yet too often it is not given the same degree of focus, planning, and support as other permanence options.

Imagine the option of going back to your parents not even being considered. When I was a practicing social worker, children told me they felt we were not listening to them, and parents often felt unsupported, describing a cliff edge where the support ends. I supported children who voted with their feet and chose to return home to parents, when the issues that led to them being removed in the first place were not fully addressed.

These experiences are not unique to one local authority or one region: they reflect a wider challenge across children’s social care. Too often reunification is not considered, and this affects thousands of children and families. Getting it right can improve both family and system outcomes, and, encouragingly, reunification has become an increasingly important area of policy, practice, and research.

This is why I am proud to have worked on the Reunification Practice Guide, commissioned by the Department for Education and produced by Foundations, and am excited for its launch today.

The Practice Guide sets out the strongest available evidence to support effective practice and improve how services are commissioned, designed, and delivered. It is based on a new systematic review of existing evidence that explores what works, for whom, and in what context, which is in turn translated into actionable key principles and recommendations.

What I found most encouraging during its development was seeing the evidence reinforce what children, families, and practitioners have been telling us for years: that reunification requires planning, preparation, support, and relationship-building long before a child returns home, and continued support after they do.

The Practice Guide includes four messages, along with actionable recommendations, that need to be part of the culture shift and putting reunification on the agenda in all meetings about children.

1 | Reunification needs to start on day one – not the day a child returns home

Yes, safeguarding children when they are at risk must always be the immediate priority. However, if reunification is a possible outcome, planning for it should begin as soon as a child enters care. It should be on the agenda for all children looked after reviews, care planning meetings and supervision, rather than something revisited only when a return home becomes imminent.

2 | Families need clarity, honesty, and realistic goals to work towards

The evidence also highlights the importance of partnership working and shared decision making. Too often, parents describe feeling that decisions are made about them rather than with them. Successful reunification relies on families understanding what needs to change, how they will be supported to make those changes, and how progress will be assessed. Trusting relationships between practitioners, children, and families are at the heart of this.

3 | Returning home should not mark the end of support

One of the strongest messages from children, parents, and practitioners is that reunification is a journey, not an event. Children and their families need ongoing support throughout the reunification journey and most importantly when the child has returned home. Without sustained help, the risk of reunification breakdown increases and the impact on children is profound. We often talk about the practical consequences of a return to care, but we should also consider the emotional impact. Parents may feel shame, guilt, and judgement, whilst children can experience disappointment, loss, and further trauma when a reunification is not sustained. Effective support after return home is not an optional extra, it is a critical part of helping children and families achieve long term stability.

4 | Children’s social care cannot do this alone

Housing, education, health, Family Hubs, Early Help services, the voluntary sector, and wider community partners all have a role in supporting children and families. We know, for example, that housing can play a significant part in whether reunification is successful. Families can become trapped in a cycle where they are not eligible for a larger property because their children are not living with them, yet their children cannot return home because the accommodation is not suitable or there is not enough space. Too often, barriers such as these sit outside the control of individual social workers or families but have a significant impact on outcomes.

Published shortly after the Department for Education announced a strategy on supporting enduring relationships for care-experienced young people, the Reunification Practice Guide is an opportunity to re-centre reunification within planning for children’s futures and ensure that children and families receive the support they need before, during, and after a return home.

After 20 years in children’s social care, I am hopeful that this guide will help reunification move from being the historically overlooked permanence option to being a core part of how we support children to grow up safely within their families wherever possible.