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Every effort should be made to place siblings together; however,
sometimes this is not possible. When siblings are placed in separate
foster-care families, sibling visitation must occur frequently. Contact
by telephone and letter should be encouraged. Foster parents or
other caregivers should be involved in facilitation and monitoring
visits. Sibling visits should occur during a scheduled visitation,
but they may occur immediately before or after a visitation based
on the schedules of the children’s caregivers. The visits
should be in a home-like setting to enable the siblings to interact
with each other in a relaxed way.
Sibling visits provide an opportunity for the case adviser to
observe the interaction of the siblings and intervene when necessary
to teach social skills or redirect inappropriate behavior. If the
parent is involved in the visit, carefully observe how the parent
interacts with all the children present. Again, the case adviser
may use the visit as a "teaching moment" to teach, coach
or redirect the parent's interaction with the children.
(*in most cases a foster-care circumstance)
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