FFPSA

The Family First Prevention Services Act, which became law in 2018, has set off a flurry of conversations between child welfare agencies and multiple public and private organizations as they envision a bold new world that includes supporting families and preventing child maltreatment.

The Family First Prevention Services Act monetarily incentivizes child welfare agencies to invest in programs that prevent foster care placements. It constitutes the largest commitment to that effort in the history of federal funding.

The U.S. Children’s Bureau is overseeing the $500 million transition fund approved this year to help states prepare and implement the Family First Prevention Services Act, a major overhaul of child welfare funding.

Lost in the shuffle of the obvious and only news story going, the federal Prevention Services Clearinghouse has approved Homebuilders, a family preservation model with a large track record of success, for new federal funding under the Family First Prevention Services Act. 

Maryland has become the third child welfare system to receive approval for a plan under the Family First Prevention Services Act, allowing them to draw down federal funds for services to prevent the use of foster care in some child welfare cases.

President Trump released his 2021 budget this month, and Youth Services Insider has finally had time to break this one down. It includes a mix of sizable cuts to programs that serve disadvantaged youths and young adults, and a few intriguing legislative proposals.

The U.S. Children’s Bureau has approved Arkansas’s plan under the Family First Prevention Services Act, which will enable the state to draw down federal funds for services aimed at preventing the use of foster care in certain child welfare cases.

A model for working with families in crisis recently became the first service fast-tracked for federal funding under the Family First Prevention Services Act, the largest federal child welfare reform in decades.

A bill to help states implement the Family First Prevention Services Act was included in the end-of-year spending bill passed by Congress and signed by President Trump just before the holidays.