California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse

The clearinghouse tasked with reviewing foster care prevention services for federal funds announced a new slate of 14 programs it would consider.

Child welfare is personal for Ian Forber-Pratt, who was adopted from India and brought to the United States as an infant with his sister. With a master’s degree in social work, he’s spent his life crisscrossing the globe to create better outcomes for children, even helping pass legislation that built a national foster care program in India.

Adoptees can face a unique struggle with grief, loss and identity — contrary to how they are often depicted in films like “Annie” or “Superman.” But most graduate programs in counseling and therapy rarely explore the issue, or the complexities of the child welfare system, leaving adoptive families nationwide to struggle alone.

The federal Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has already begun to set up the guidelines and rules that will govern state implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act, a law passed in February of 2018 that aims to prevent the use of foster care more often and reduce the use of group homes and other congregate care settings.

It started as a simple story. Once again, the Trump administration had demonstrated its reputed disdain for facts and evidence. This time it had revoked the contract of one of the federal government’s top evidence clearinghouses — one that reviewed studies of mental health and drug treatment programs to determine their effectiveness.

In 2001, a nonprofit drug treatment provider called Bridges joined a bold new venture with the Sacramento County Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS). It was aimed at better serving the children of parents who had come into contact with the child welfare system because of drug use or addiction.