The Family First Act: What It Is and Why It Matters

Nov 1, 2021 | Adoption, Adoption Law, Advocacy, Education, Foster Care

The Family First Prevention Services Act, or Family First Act, was signed into law (P.L. 115-123) as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act on February 9th, 2018, but what does it mean for Colorado families, and how is Colorado handling its rollout as we reach the federally mandated compliance date?

Let’s review what this Act means and the steps that Colorado is taking to comply with its implementation.   

What is Family First Act?

The Family First Act is a landmark piece of bipartisan federal legislation that entails significant changes to how Child Welfare is funded and what is incentivized. One of the biggest differences between Family First and what came before it is that this Act focuses on keeping families together when possible, utilizing federal funds for services that keep children and families whole.

Before Family First Act Implementation

  • Most federal funding is dedicated to foster care
  • Federal funding can only be utilized on services for the child
  • An income test is required to qualify families in need of services
  • Zero federal funding for kinship navigator
  • Zero federal funds for a child placed with a parent or caregiver within residential programs

After Family First Act Implementation

  • New federal funding for prevention services to keep children with their families
  • Expansion of funds utilization: prevention services for children, parents, and kin
  • No necessity for income verification
  • 50% reimbursement for kinship navigator
  • 12 months of federal funding for residential programs

In essence, it is about supporting families in need rather than feeding the foster care cycle. This Act’s goals are to limit the children entering foster care by providing education, resources, and support to families who need it. It is an exciting shift; moving away from child-centered situational mitigation, like removing a child, and working to treat the problems that often result in children entering foster care, i.e. parental substance and opioid use.

Often the admission by a parent of having substance use or mental health problems ends in the removal of children for their safety rather than helping the parent who is struggling. This is the scenario that this Act seeks to mitigate.

Creating a pathway for a parent to get help while keeping the family together marks a major shift in how we seek to view and treat addiction sufferers and the mentally ill. The Act also prioritizes kinship placements when keeping a child with immediate family is not a viable or safe option. A caseworker will look first for kin and then last for a foster family to provide a safe home. The welfare of children remains at the heart of the Act, but they are seen as a part of a more complex situation, requiring a more complex, whole problem solution – which is what Family First is attempting to create.

The Act also supports those children with emotional and behavioral disturbances who end up needing to be placed in foster care by allowing for federal reimbursement for care within family-based settings and approved residential treatment programs.

Prevention Services

Title I of the Act focuses on Placement Prevention Services. Before the Family First Act was signed funds could only be used to help with the costs of foster care, adoption, and guardianship assistance. The Family First Act changes that. It allows for funds to be spent on evidence-based prevention services for up to 12 months. This means that foster care candidates with a trauma-informed prevention plan can stay with their parents or family members.

Standards for finding these services are listed in the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse Handbook.

Programs or services are required to go through a review process and are given a rating of well-supported, supported, promising, or does not currently meet the criteria. In the federal fiscal years 2022 and 2023, 50% of programs and services must be well-supported or supported and by the federal fiscal year 2024, 50% must be well-supported.

To date, 11 programs and services have been given a ‘well supported’ approval using this rating system. Here are some examples: 

  • Parent-ChildInteraction Therapy: A program for two to seven-year-old children where parents are coached by a trained therapist in behavior management and relationship skills.
  • Functional Family Therapy: This program addresses risk and protective factors that impact the development of 11 to 18-year-old youth with emotional or behavioral problems.
  • Nurse-Family Partnership: A home-visit program implemented by trained registered nurses for young, first-time, low-income mothers. The program starts early into pregnancy until the child turns two.
  • Family Check-Up®: A brief, strengths-based intervention for families with children ages 2 through 17 aiming to improve parenting skills and family management practices, with the goals of improving a range of emotional, behavioral, and academic child outcomes.

As of the writing of this blog, the most current list of approved programs and services can be found at the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse website.

Placement

Title II of the Family First Act ensures appropriate placement if prevention services are ineffective. It has designated a new placement type, called a Qualified Residential Treatment Program. A QRTP is a licensed and accredited program that is trauma-informed, has licensed nursing and clinical staff, encourages participation of the family where appropriate and safe for the child, and provides aftercare for six months after discharge. 

The Family First Act will provide funding for out-of-home placements including:

  • Family and kin
  • Foster family
  • QRTP for children or youth who need treatment
  • Settings for young parents
  • Independent living settings for young adults
  • Settings for survivors of child sex trafficking
  • Residential treatment facilities for substance use disorder

Colorado’s Implementation

Colorado began prioritizing prevention services years ago. The adoption of a federally backed law supporting preventative services will help Colorado reach its family-focused goals supporting community, culture, diversity, equity, and access for all Coloradans across the state.

At this point, Colorado has reached its short-term federal compliance goals and is working towards the implementation of its goals at the state level. To that end, Colorado submitted its Five-Year Family First Prevention Services Plan to the federal government for final approval just last month.

Useful resources regarding Family First Act in Colorado:

Stay tuned for Part 3 of the Family First Toolkit: Evaluation & Quality Improvement, which will be released early in 2022.

To stay up to date with the Family First Act in Colorado, consider joining the weekly discussion with CDHS.

Starting October 2021, anyone who has a question about Family First can join in weekly discussions facilitated by Angelina Callis, CDHS Family First Project Manager, and any other identified subject matter experts as needed. These meetings will be an opportunity to ask any questions you have about Family First. Agendas will be posted every Tuesday on this CDHS page, under the ‘Family First office hours’ tab. Every Wednesday from 1 – 3:30 p.m, join by video –  https://meet.google.com/faj-tmzj-mpk; join by phone –  +1 716-588-0233 PIN: ‪628 246 587#. If possible, submit your questions in advance so that the appropriate subject matter experts can attend and bring any supplemental resources on the topic.

Family First References & Resources

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