Background: Family reunification refers to the process through which children and adolescents under a measure of temporary separation (foster care or residential) return to live with their biological families. The research has begun to reflect a paradigm change in intervention and support for these families that affects the consolidation of reunification and the prevention of new processes of separation and reentry into the protection system. Objectives: This article examines the needs of parents who are susceptible to an educational intervention from a positive focus that contributes to the consolidation of family reunification. Method: Eighteen semi-structured interviews were conducted and 22 discussion groups were convened with 135 participants (63 protection-system professionals, 42 parents and 30 children and adolescents). The data were analyzed through content analysis and were subject to peer revision. Results: A series of parents' specific educational needs when their children return home was recognized. These needs can be the objects of family intervention based on a positive focus directed toward highlighting parents' strengths and are related to awareness of family progress, emotional management, giving and receiving help from other families and social support. The participants' comments show that feelings of self-sufficiency and positive reinforcement are fundamental for consolidation of the process. Conclusions: Social support through formal and informal networks may be a path to explore for providing more and better support after returning home. Empowering families so that they can be agents of support for other families can be a way to consolidate reunification, allowing families to be active agents in the reunification process. In addition, listening to children's voices can be a good strategy for family consolidatio

This article presents the results of a qualitative study that explores parenting skills when a child returns home after a period of foster care in the child protection system. There were a total of 135 participants, including 63 child protection professionals, 42 parents and 30 children and adolescents. The data were analysed using content analysis submitted to peer review. Triangulating the voices of children with the input of parents and professionals rendered it possible to identify needs for the consolidation of family reunification in five dimensions: adjustment of parenting skills, adaptation to the needs of the child, social support, more accurate perception of one’s role, and parental self-efficacy. These findings suggest particular characteristics in the development of both generally applicable skills and skills specific to positive parenting that can improve the chances of a successful reunification process. GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

According to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, children and adolescents have the right to participate in all aspects of life that affect them. The importance of giving a voice and taking into account childhood is increasingly recognized. However, this participation is limited on some occasions, especially in contexts such as the child welfare system or in contexts where childhood is in a vulnerable situation or at risk. Therefore, it is necessary to promote experiences in which children and adolescents are active agents of the research. Their contribution as stakeholders gives significance to the findings and brings the research closer to the focus of the study, as well as to the agents themselves. Research should incorporate children and adolescents not only as a source of information but as main agents. This article shows some of the participatory methodologies that are used in research, in recent years, by the GRISIJ Group (Research Group for Social and Educational Interventions in Child and Youth). The examples focus on children at risk and on their right to participate in research processes on issues that affect them. Finally, some ideas are proposed to acquire a greater commitment to children's participation in these processes, especially in cases of children at risk or in the child welfare system.

La Convención de los Derechos del Niño (CDN, 1989) es actualmente el tratado internacional más ratificado. Distintos autores han puesto de relieve su potencialidad para una educación moral y en la ciudadanía. Aun así, paradójicamente, distintas investigaciones informan de su incorporación escasa u ocasional en las prácticas escolares. En este artículo se realiza una aproximación a las experiencias escolares sobre participación, la tercera P de la CDN, desde la pluralidad de voces y actores de la comunidad educativa, mediante 14 grupos de discusión en 11 comunidades autónomas del estado español. El análisis de los discursos evidencia bajos niveles de participación del alumnado en la vida escolar. Pero, a la vez, se constata un escenario educativo propicio para el desarrollo de proyectos que contribuyan a la participación infantil, así como a la incorporación de la CDN como elemento motor de la vida del centro y referente integrador de los distintos proyectos de centro.

Social support is a crucial element for families in vulnerable situations, especially for those with children in foster care processes. This support is key to the acceptance of the protection measure in the initial moments and to laying the foundations for collaboration towards reunification. However, the social support of these families is limited, and families’ use of support elements is strongly related to their attitude towards them. The aims of this article were to identify the types and characteristics of social support and to analyze what elements influence families’ attitudes towards these supports. The qualitative study research was carried out in Spain through focus groups and interviews with 135 participants: 63 professionals from child protection services, 42 parents, and 30 children and adolescents who had been in foster care measures. Results show the diversity of social support resources available to families and demonstrate that families make unequal use of such resources depending on factors such as their experiences in the process of formalization and communication of the protection measure or their predisposition to receive support, among others. The important role played by social support resources in the promotion of factors that allow for successful reception and reunification is highlighted.

Parental education programs are a key element in achieving family reunification because they help mothers and fathers improve their parenting skills and increase the parent-child relationship. Perceptions of change are examined among children and parents who participated in Spain's "Caminar en familia" ("Walking family") program, which was implemented among families served by the Sistema de Protección a la Infancia y a la Adolescencia (System for the Protection of Children and Adolescents). A qualitative design enabled comprehensively describing the experiences of families in the Spanish Child Protection System. A discussion group was the main data collection source. Study participants were from 16 families (23 parents and 20 children), either preparing to return home or newly reunified, and had completed Modules 3 and 4 of the program. The results indicated that the program contributed to increasing families' awareness of their parenting-related abilities, skills, and competencies, and helped them understand the need for making adjustments as part of coexistence and preparations for adaptations in family dynamics to facilitate the children's return home. This research highlights the importance of involving parents and their children in improving parenting skills and the reunification process by implementing parental education programs through a unique work plan.