Last week, Congress passed the Family First Prevention Services Act, a sweeping reform of the child welfare system as part of a larger spending package. The measure allows states to use federal foster care matching funds for prevention services addressing mental health, substance use and parenting skills to keep at-risk children from entering the foster care system. The Act also limits federal reimbursements for foster youth who are placed in congregate care settings. After coming close to passage in 2016, the Family First Act was tucked into last week’s massive budget deal, fast-tracking its enactment.
PREVENTION SERVICES
The main provision of the Act will allow states to use funds derived from Title IV-E of the Social Security Act – the entitlement that pays for child welfare – for “time-limited” services aimed at preventing the use of foster care. Currently, Title IV-E funds are only used as foster care maintenance payments or as assistance to adoptive families. For parents of children who are candidates for foster care, states can elect to provide up to 12-months of mental health services, addiction treatment or in-home parent skill training with the goal of keeping the child with their parent(s) or a biological relative. Notably, these time-limited prevention services would not be subject to the Title IV-E income eligibility requirements for the child or parent.
Additionally, the Act would support residential addiction treatment facilities that allow for children to live with their parents as the parents receive treatment. For instance, if a child meets the IV-E foster care income tests, then a state can seek IV-E reimbursement for a child placed in a residential addiction treatment facility alongside their parent. There must be a formal recommendation made for the placement, and the facility must provide parenting and counseling sessions, in addition to rehabilitation services.
CONGREGATE CARE