A prisoner's family may have a critical role in facilitating or impeding his or her ability to successfully transition to the community. Accordingly, the transition team should incorporate information from and about the family into its recommendations for the releasing authority. (See Policy Statement 23, Victims, Families, and Communities, for more on addressing the needs and capitalizing on the strengths of families when a relative is slated for release and transitioning into the community.) As is the case for the victim, the family may have critical information to protect itself, the offender, and the community.

First, the transition team should determine whether the family is willing and able to receive the family member who is eligible for release. While many families look forward to the release of a family member, the circumstances of the arrest and removal of the individual may have caused strain on family relationships and disrupted family life, which the release of the person may rekindle or exacerbate. In some cases, family members have been victimized by the relative in prison or jail either in the current offense, or in reported or unreported instances of family violence, abuse, or neglect, or victimizing consequences of substance abuse (such as intra-family theft). In such cases, the transition team should ensure that family members have access to the support and services they need and can meaningfully advise the releasing authority. (See Policy Statement 23, Victims, Families, and Communities, for more on family supports and services during the transition period.) Families that are adequately advised about services and support that they might receive as part of their relative's re-entry may be more willing and able to accept him or her upon release from incarceration.

Second, family members should have the opportunity to work with the transition team (and, if possible, a family advocate or family case manager) to craft suggested terms and conditions of release that can address the family's concerns about its safety as well as the safety of the re-entering relative, who may be threatened with violence or neglect or encouraged to return to criminal behavior by other family members.