Family Unification Day Celebration

As part of the annual nationwide American Bar Association family reunification effort, Legal Services of New Jersey will host its 2025 Family Unification Day celebration on Thursday, June 12, at the New Jersey Law Center in New Brunswick. The event honored families and their heroes, who have successfully prevented removal, or been reunified with their children after involvement with the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency (DCPP). Stay tuned for more details!

2024 Family Unification Day

• Event Highlight Reel
• Keynote Speech: The Honorable Rodney Cunningham, Atlantic and Cape May Counties

Previous Family Unification Day Videos

• The Price of Reunification: Foster Care Child Support (2024)
• Fighting to Father: Recognizing the Important Role of Fathers in the Child Welfare System (2023)
• Listen Up! Serving Families by Centering the Parent Voice (2022)
• A Partnership of Hope: One Family’s Story (2020)
• Caseworkers and Parents: Heroes Together Saving Families and Homes (2019)
• Iesha’s Story: Reclaiming Her Voice (2018)
• Overcoming Barriers to Educational Success for Children in Out-of-Home Placement (2017)
• Nurturing and Rebuilding Family Ties (2016)
• Home - Housing's Critical Role in Child Welfare (2015)
• Poverty, Addiction, and Meeting Family Needs (2014)
• Visitation: An Indispensable Tool for Reunification (2013)

Keynote Speeches from Prior Years

• The Honorable Lisa James-Beavers, Burlington County (2023)
• The Honorable Michael P. Wright (2022)
• The Honorable Sallyanne Floria (2019)
• The Honorable David Katz (2019)
• The Honorable Daniel Yablonsky, Passaic County (2018)
• The Honorable Madelin F. Einbinder (2017)
• The Honorable David B. Katz (2016)
• Lisa von Pier, Assistant Commissioner of the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency (2015)
• The Honorable Julio L. Mendez (2014)
• The Honorable Hany A. Mawla (2013)
• The Honorable Thomas H. Dilts (2012)
• The Honorable Sallyanne Floria (2011)
• The Honorable Glen A. Grant (2010)

Other Presentations and Speakers

• Special Presentation: April Lee, Community Legal Services of Philadelphia (2022)
• Nora McCarthy and the Reunified Youth Foster Forum Talk About Visitation During Covid-19 (June 2020)
• Parent Testimony at Keep Families Together Forum (March 2019)
• Ode to the Family Destruction System: They Decided Not to Listen to Her (A Poem by Diane Redleaf, 2017)

About National Family Reunification Month

• National Council of Juvenile and Family Courts
• ABA Center on Children and the Law