The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) was signed into law as part of Public Law (P.L.) 115–123 and has several provisions to enhance support services for families to help children remain at home, reduce the unnecessary use of congregate care, and build the capacity of communities to support children and families. The law enables states and territories to use funds for prevention services, such as:

• Evidence-based mental health programs
• Substance abuse prevention and treatment
• In-home parent skill-based programs
• Kinship navigator programs

Any questions regarding the interpretation of FFPSA and its requirements should be directed to the Children’s Bureau’s Regional Offices.

To access the Children’s Bureau’s Information Memorandum, visit: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/cb/im1802.pdf.

To view the Program Instruction for FFPSA, visit: https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/resource/pi1807.

To read FFPSA in its entirety, visit: https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1892.

The following Center for States resources are relevant to specific requirements of FFPSA, and can support states, territories, and local jurisdictions when planning for FFPSA implementation.

Learn more about how the Center supports states developing prevention-focused systems and responding to the FFPSA.

Developing Service Array

This resource can help states implement FFPSA §§50711, 50752, and 50753.

• A Data-Driven Approach to Service Array toolkit provides step-by-step guidance and worksheets to assist jurisdictions with using data to assess and improve their service array, including establishing community-based services to support foster families and prevention services and programs.
• Prevention Planning Into Action offers a collection of resources that can be used to support agencies working to develop and implement prevention plans.

Enhanced Kinship Programming

This resource supports implementation of FFPSA §§50731, 50741, and 50761.

• It’s All Relative: Supporting Kinship Care recorded webinar, discussion guide, and video promotes dialogue, critical thinking, and practice improvement through highlighting kinship caregiver experiences and innovative kinship programs.

Identifying and Evaluating Evidence-Based Practices

These resources can assist states in implementing FFPSA §50711.

• 2017 Child Welfare Virtual Expo: Strengthening Assessment and Decision-Making for Improved Outcomes shares the recorded sessions, learning activities, personal stories, and supplemental resources to improve practice and the quality of assessments and decision-making, data sharing, and partnerships to support system-wide improvements.
• Selecting Evidence-Based Practices Children’s Bureau Express article defines evidence-based practices and identifies resources to assist agencies with selecting one.

Increasing Family Engagement

These resources can be used to engage family and youth in implementation and planning for FFPSA §§50751, 50752, and 50753.

• Quality Matters: Improving Caseworker Contacts with Children, Youth, and Families lists learning tools, program guides, and supervisory and practice tips that promote engagement, assessment and case planning, better fit between family needs and services, and improved outcomes for children and families.
• Family Empowerment Leadership Academy (FELA) learning experience provides guidance and resources for individual and group learning to increase their engagement of families with lived experience and identify effective family empowerment strategies leading to system improvements.
• Youth Development lists resources including briefs, tip sheets, podcasts, videos, and other tools that promote learning to enhance youth engagement.
• Strategies for Authentic Integration of Youth and Family Voice in Child Welfare tip sheet addresses ways child welfare agencies can authentically engage families and youth and include their voices and valuable lived experiences at the agency level to improve outcomes for children, youth, and families.

Recruitment and Retention of Foster Families and Reductions in Congregate Care

These resources can help states increase the quality of foster care and implement FFPSA §§50722, 50731, 50741, and 50751.

• It’s All Relative: Supporting Kinship Care recorded webinar, discussion guide, and video promotes dialogue, critical thinking, and practice improvement through highlighting kinship caregiver experiences and innovative kinship programs.
• Empowering Caregivers, Strengthening Families shares videos of caregivers discussing their experiences and includes discussion guides that promote dialogue, critical thinking, and practice improvement around collaborative partnerships and support structures for resource parents.
• National Foster Care Month 2017: Supporting Caregivers to Promote Positive Outcomes recorded webinar highlights effective strategies for collaboration between caregivers and birth parents.
• Congregate Care in the Age of Family First helps enhance agency culture and climate, identify areas that need attention, and implement improvements.

Sustaining Change

This series of resources focuses on helping states implement change in their child welfare systems and can be used when planning to implement any provision of the FFPSA.

• Continuous Quality Improvement and Implementation lists assessment tools, how-to guides, and learning experiences to help individuals and groups better assess systems and implement and manage change in systematic, evidence-informed ways to improve child welfare practice.

Peer Groups

The following peer groups can help connect child welfare professionals working on implementing the FFPSA and related topics. Visit the Center’s Current Peer Groups page for more information or to sign up for a peer group.

The Center also offers tailored services to states and jurisdictions to help build agency capacity for prevention programs. For more information, contact your State Liaison.