The Family First Law, signed into federal law in February 2018 as the Family Preservation Act, shifts the child welfare system towards providing services that help families keep their children safely within them and supports expanded prevention options like mental health services, drug and alcohol rehabilitation services and parenting skills training.
Researchers, service providers and advocates whose work involves children and families involved with child welfare need a clear understanding of Family First reforms. This tool provides an overview of its major provisions.
The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA)
Family First Act contains an innovative new provision enabling states to use Title IV-E funds (which currently cover foster care and adoption subsidies) for prevention services, known as IV-E Prevention. Under this program, states can spend money on mental health interventions, parenting programs, substance abuse treatment services as well as substance use counseling and more – though certain restrictions will still apply so as to make sure only evidence-based services can be funded and will benefit children in need.
The goal of the law is to transform child welfare practice to better support families, based on research that shows children fare best when raised within their own homes and that youth who come through child welfare services fare best when provided with permanent families who offer safe, stable and healthy environments.
FFPSA encourages systems to decrease the number of children placed in group homes and other “congregate care” facilities by mandating national accreditation and meeting heightened standards for these facilities. Furthermore, federal funding for non-foster care placements that do not meet these strict criteria is restricted to two weeks; four exceptions exist – three being programs specifically catering for special populations while another being Quality Residential Treatment Programs (QRTP).
This legislation has the power to revolutionize our understanding of child welfare by shifting how children are seen as valued members of their families and society, while altering how their relationships with family and community evolve over time. With significant legal ramifications for communities throughout Canada, its proper implementation must focus on upholding its core values and beliefs that form its basis.
This tool provides an overview of some of the key aspects of Family First for legal practitioners, such as state and local policy change, direct practice and advocacy cases involving Qualified Residential Treatment Programs (QRTPs). This resource aims to support dialogues among state child welfare agencies and attorneys regarding how best to implement Family First locally.
What is Family First?
Family First is a new federal law that was signed into effect early 2018. It mandates state and county child welfare agencies to adopt a prevention-focused approach when working with families, emphasizing strengthening family structures to keep as many children in their home environments as possible, while also making sure any time children do need to be placed outside of their family environment, it takes into account what would provide the least restrictive setting possible while meeting each child’s unique needs.
Family First will radically reform the way child welfare operates and is one of the most significant reforms implemented since decades. Full implementation will take many years.
Studies demonstrate that children benefit most when raised within their families and that taking children from them can often have negative repercussions. At present, over 70 percent of Colorado children receiving assistance from DCYF don’t require removal from their families, which Family First hopes to further reduce by targeting services on those children most in need.
Family first will make it easier for families to access the services they need for success, such as substance abuse treatment, mental health interventions and in-home parent skill-based programs. Furthermore, it allows states to utilize Title IV-E funding – typically allocated towards foster care payments and adoption subsidies — instead in support of family based preventive services.
The Family First Act will also have an impact on adolescents and young adults aging out of foster care, providing assistance with financial management, housing, education, employment and emotional support as they transition out. Furthermore, this act provides them with resources necessary for making this transition successfully.
The Family First Act mandates major reforms of the child welfare system and will require cooperation among researchers, advocates, policy makers and practitioners. For these changes to take place smoothly and successfully, legal professionals need to fully comprehend its requirements; this tool provides a useful overview of this piece of legislation while outlining ways in which it may influence legal practice and judicial decision-making.
The Prevention Services Clearinghouse (PSC)
The Family First Prevention Services Act introduced significant reform to how states use federal child welfare funds. It encouraged counties to prioritize keeping children out of out-of-home care placement, while restricting how long a child could remain there (like group homes). Furthermore, this law established Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse that helps state agencies find proven programs and practices designed to strengthen families without disrupting them.
The PSC is a free, comprehensive website designed to assist county staff and local providers in accessing evidence-based interventions to support children and families. It features various tools including an inventory of programs that fulfill Family First criteria as well as services rated promising, supported or well supported. Plus it’s constantly being updated as new studies come out!
Currenty, the PSC database includes over 100 interventions and programs evaluated through an intensive research process, covering parenting and family support interventions as well as mental health treatments, substance abuse recovery services, homelessness assistance programs, in-home parenting skill training and in-home parent trainer programs. Also featured is the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse as well as Title IV-E Prevent Services Clearinghouse which have both recognized TBRI as promising parenting and family supports interventions.
By selecting interventions through the PSC, counties ensure they select methods proven successful at reducing child maltreatment and thus improve chances of reunification with family members or finding permanent homes through foster care or adoption.
The PSC has also developed an invaluable legal professional resource, the “Family First Law for Lawyers”, to assist attorneys understand how Family First affects their practice. The tool provides a thorough breakdown of Family First’s key provisions as well as useful resources to assist lawyers in implementing it effectively.
How does Family First affect DCYF?
The federal Family First Law was signed into law early 2018 and mandates significant reforms to the child welfare system and funding for state agencies. Researchers, service providers, community members, and others who work in this field need to understand these changes to provide optimal assistance to children and families.
In order to revolutionize child welfare, the Family First Act allows states to use Federal Title IV-E funding (along with local funds) for services that will keep kids safe in their own homes while growing up without foster care placements. Furthermore, this act seeks to limit foster care admissions while simultaneously increasing home quality for these vulnerable kids.
Family First allows RI DCYF to build and implement a prevention infrastructure with the aim of increasing parents’ abilities to safely parent their children, thus decreasing foster care placement needs. This includes offering time limited family support programs and skill building initiatives for parents, kin caregivers and pregnant or parenting youth in foster care.
The Rhode Island DCYF Family First Prevention Services Plan builds upon existing prevention infrastructure, such as Family Community Care Partnerships. It will increase access to education, employment, financial management training and housing assistance as well as emotional support services from supportive adults. Furthermore, this will enhance services provided to young people aging out of foster care by expanding funding for the Chafee Foster Care Independence Program.
Domestic violence is an area of great concern in DCYF cases, so social workers should make every reasonable effort to ask about domestic abuse and support survivors’ safety and empowerment. This may involve referring perpetrators for more specialized services that address intimate partner abuse rather than just anger management classes that don’t help solve it.
DCYF joined with service providers during the pandemic to develop and distribute an easy, holistic resource guide that would inform both professionals and community members on ways they could support families during this crisis. The guide included a statement affirming DCYF’s belief that parents are their children’s primary protectors and should always be assisted in caring for their own offspring.
DCYF regional offices distributed this guide among their network of local service providers and community organizations; staff then followed up proactively with questions resolved or encouraged proactive outreach efforts.
