The Family First Act is a federal law designed to reform child welfare practice and funding. It limits how long children may remain in group care placements while encouraging kinship or foster home placements, and offers stronger supports for transition age youth.
State and local agencies, courts, and legal communities are making changes at various stages in implementation. The American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law offers training and resources for members of the legal community regarding implementation; including this Legal Guide and Tool for Legal Community Engagement.
It is a federal law
The Family First Act, passed early 2018 as part of federal child welfare reform, emphasizes family placement over residential placement of children in residential facilities. It has significantly altered how states and counties receive federal funds by creating incentives and limits related to group home placements.
The American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law has developed both a Legal Guide and Tool for Legal Community Engagement to aid attorneys and judicial officers with Family First implementation. As well as offering resources, ABA also conducts workshops alongside state and county teams to educate them on legal implications and enable implementation.
Family First contains provisions that mandate child welfare systems to establish nonfamily home residential treatment options called Qualified Residential Treatment Programs (QRTP). These facilities must meet high quality, close monitoring standards, time and needs limitations as well as allow participation from the youth’s family members.
It is a policy
Family first is an innovative policy intended to transform how federal child welfare funds are disbursed by prioritizing prevention services for families rather than group homes or congregate care placement. This amendment amends Title IV-E entitlement aims to improve access to resources while decreasing funding allocated towards such placements.
This bill promotes family placements, which research indicates are more beneficial than residential treatment facilities such as group homes. Research has demonstrated that children living with their families tend to be healthier, have improved educational results, and earn more as adults.
The Family First Act mandates child welfare agencies to adopt new policies and practices related to family engagement, group home placements and kinship care. It also modifies how federal reimbursement works for certain non-family-home placements. For legal professionals and judicial decision makers alike, The American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law has put together this article which highlights key provisions of this act.
It is a funding source
The Family First Prevention Services Act marks a radical departure in how federal child welfare funding is structured, providing more resources to assist families prevent removal and restricting congregate care placement in group homes or similar institutions. Furthermore, states receive incentives for prioritizing children experiencing crisis while decreasing foster care entry rates and lengths of stay.
The American Bar Association Center on Children and the Law provides numerous resources to aid agencies in implementing FFPSA, such as its Legal Guide and Tool for Legal Community Engagement. The latter addresses issues impacting attorneys, judges and legal decision-makers as well as considering family defense attorneys, parents’ attorneys and kinship advocates among other considerations.
These tools are intended to assist agencies and their partners in planning to incorporate Family First Act priorities into their work, while prioritizing children’s best interests within child welfare systems. Legal community cooperation will be integral in realizing its goals; collaboration among agencies, lawyers, judges, researchers will ensure this important new law reaches its full potential.
It is a mandate
The Family First Act is a landmark reform designed to transform child welfare systems across the nation by redirecting resources towards preventing child maltreatment. The legislation limits federal funding for group care placements while creating incentives that direct care toward family-based alternatives rather than congregate care arrangements.
Law requires states to submit a Title IV-E prevention plan to the Children’s Bureau and use state funds for frontend services that divert children from foster care. To qualify, these services must be evidence-based and rated “promising”, “supported”, or “well supported” by the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse.
Advocates fear the Family First Act will place undue strain on extended families caring for kinship children, such as Hughes and Schwartz who believe it will prevent foster care payments for kinship children who reside with extended relatives, forcing these family members to choose between providing safe homes for their kinship children and paying essential bills such as rent, utilities and food expenses. Research and program evaluation will be essential in fulfilling its promise.
