The principal goal of the Parent Partners’ work, however, is to help birth parents gain awareness of their rights and responsibilities and to assist parents toward reunification with their children. Because of their unique experiences as former clients of the child welfare system, Parent Partners offer a perspective to birth parents that differs from that of social workers and other allied professionals. Selected because of the successes they have experienced in overcoming significant obstacles, in changing patterns of personal behavior that diminished their parenting skills, and in acknowledging the role of child welfare in motivating them to re-prioritize their family, Parent Partners are considered allies to public child welfare workers in their efforts to support parents as they seek reunification with their children.