09-06-2025
How a West Michigan agency reunifies kids with families
GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — A West Michigan organization is working to help families successfully reunite as their children exit foster care.
June is National Reunification Month and the West Michigan Partnership for Children is working to bring awareness.
The WMPC works to help families go through the necessary steps to reach reunification.
'Our goal is to reunite children with their families as quickly as possible, but to also make sure that the children and families have a stable environment in which to thrive and grow,' WMPC Director of Strategic Initiatives and Advocacy David Shields said. 'The programs and services that we provide help to make that unification process happen much, much more quickly.'
WMPC looks to place children with family members, only going through adoption services when absolutely necessary, and tries to shorten children's stays in foster care. It also works with other agencies to try to address the root causes of why children are placed in foster care.
'There are different challenges and barriers that every family has, and what we're able to do is to wrap the appropriate services that that family or the children need around that family so that they can thrive and be successful. What one family needs in the issues of maybe child mental health, another family does not, so we have the ability to really craft the response and a support around families,' Shields said.
The latest Kent County data from 2024 shows 599 total children being cared for in foster care, with 200 exiting care, according to WMPC. Of those, 79 children were reunified with their families.
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