Late last month, recently confirmed Biden child welfare official Rebecca Jones Gaston said one of the administration’s priorities around the Family First Prevention Services Act would be making the clearinghouse that approves fundable programs “as broad and open as possible.” A year before, during her confirmation hearing, Gaston heard from several senators about their frustration with the slow pace and opaque decision-making process that the Prevention Services Clearinghouse had displayed in the early going.
Coincidence or otherwise, the clearinghouse just announced what appears to Youth Services Insider to be its largest slate of new reviews. Sixteen new candidates will be assessed, and two that have already received a review will be reconsidered based on new information.
The Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse was established in relation to the Family First Prevention Services Act, which was passed in February of 2018. The law enables states to use the Title IV-E entitlement — previously reserved for foster care and adoption support — to fund services aimed at working with parents without the need for a family separation. Each approved model of services is given one of three ratings based on the strength of its evidence base: Well-Supported, Supported or Promising.
The services must be evidence-based and apply to three areas: parenting, substance abuse treatment and mental health interventions. The clearinghouse also uses the same method to review kinship navigator programs, which are one-stop shops for supporting relative caregivers. States can draw a 50% funding match for versions of the kinship navigator approach approved by the clearinghouse.
Below are brief descriptions of each of the new candidates of IV-E funding, along with their rating on another reputable source, the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse (CEBC).
30 Days to Family
Description: An intense effort to establish a home for youth with relatives within 30 days of them entering foster care.
CEBC: Promising
ACT Raising Safe Kids
Description: A “universal parenting program” meant to educate all new parents in a specific community.
CEBC: Promising
A Second Chance Kinship Navigator Program
Description: The kinship navigator model developed by the pioneering A Second Chance in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
CEBC: Not Rated
Celebrating Families!
Description: A skill-building program for families dealing with multiple risk factors including maltreatment, substance use disorders or multigenerational trauma.
CEBC: Promising
Creating Lasting Family Connections
Description: A community-hosted family program aimed at curbing the use of drugs and alcohol among youth between 9 and 17.
CEBC: Promising
Family Foundations
Description: A series of classes for couples having a baby, delivered partly before birth and partly after.
CEBC: Supported
Fatherhood is Sacred/Motherhood is Sacred
Description: A parent education program developed by Oneida Nation and the Native American Fatherhood & Families Association.
CEBC: Not Rated
Gathering of Native Americans
Description: A program using the teaching of four Indigenous worldview themes (Belonging, Mastery, Interdependence and Generosity), so that community members can increase resiliency and positive mental, emotional and spiritual health.
CEBC: Not Rated
Keeping Foster and Kin Parents Supported and Trained
Description: Provides foster and kin parents with tools to deal with child behavioral problems.
CEBC: Promising
Make Parenting a Pleasure
Description: Parenting support aimed at reducing the potential for child abuse among parents of kids between 0 and 8.
CEBC: Promising
Parent-Child Assistance Program
Description: A long-term support program for mothers who struggle with substance or alcohol abuse.
CEBC: Promising
Parent-Child Care
Description: A program to help enhance the caregiver-child relationship for families that have experienced heavy trauma.
CEBC: Promising
Prize Contingency Management
Description: An incentive-based addition to substance abuse treatment that has shown some positive effects during the course of the intervention.
CEBC: Not Rated
Project Venture
Description: An outdoors youth development approach first developed by leaders of the Cherokee Nation.
CEBC: Not Rated
Relief Nursery
Description: A combo program that folds in-home visiting, parenting skill training and respite care.
CEBC: Not Rated
Washington State Kinship Navigator Program
Description: The kinship navigator model used by 30 counties and eight Native American tribes in Washington.
CEBC: Not Rated
Child-Parent Relationship Therapy (Re-review)
Description: A model aimed at improving the parent response to young children experiencing social, emotional and relational disorders.
CEBC: Promising (also rated Promising by the Prevention Services Clearinghouse)
Child-Centered Group Play Therapy (Re-review)
Description: Play-based mental health intervention for young children ages 3 to 10 who are experiencing social, emotional, behavioral and relational disorders.
CEBC: Promising (also rated Promising by the Prevention Services Clearinghouse)
Thus far the clearinghouse has approved 71 programs under one of the three ratings, and found that another 68 do not currently meet the criteria for rating.