FAMILY FIRST PREVENTION SERVICES ACT (Family First Act)  

Making Historic Reforms to the Nation’s Children’s Services System    

The federal Family First Prevention Services Act (Family First Act, or FFPSA) was adopted on February 9, 2018 and will be implemented nationwide by October 1, 2021. The Family First Act places emphasis on the use of evidence based prevention services to alleviate the need for placement of children in foster care, and ensuring appropriate settings are used for children in foster care.   

The name of the law reflects its vision:     

  A  family first for children and teens through quality  prevention services . 

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OVERVIEW OF THE FAMILY FIRST ACT AND WHAT IT MEANS FOR OHIO'S CHILDREN AND FAMILIES (Click to read the full Act or summaries of the Act.) 

• Through dramatic funding changes, Family First puts the focus on prevention and – to the extent possible – keeping children out of foster care and with their families or relatives. It recognizes that often families can provide safe and loving care if given access to needed mental health services, substance abuse treatment or improved parenting skills.   
• Family First is an excellent opportunity to increase some of the best practices that are already being implemented around the state, such as 30 Days to Family, Ohio START, and Team Decision Making.  
• Foster Care: When foster care is necessary, Family First helps ensure that children are placed in the least restrictive, most family-like setting appropriate for their needs. It also provides new model standards for foster home licensing to improve the quality of care.  
• Residential Treatment: For children for whom residential care remains the best option, it seeks to improve the quality and oversight of that care and ensure that residential facilities provide quality, trauma-informed supports.  
• Kinship Care: Family First provides resources for Kinship Navigator Programs, which link kinship caregivers to a broad range of services and supports to help children remain safely with them. It also requires states to document how their foster care licensing standards accommodate kinship caregivers.  
• Emancipated Youth: Family First provides opportunities to improve services for youth who age out of care. It also adds flexibility to the Education and Training Voucher (ETV) program, which provides up to $5,000 a year for qualified school-related expenses.
• Opioid Crisis: Family First seeks to offer more supportive services to families challenged by drug addiction since the opioid epidemic has taken an enormous toll on families and created unprecedented challenges for children services.  

PREVENTION SERVICES  

The Prevention Subcommittee’s goal is to design a prevention services plan that aligns evidence-based programs with the needs of Ohio’s families and children to keep children safe with their families whenever possible. This subcommittee has several workgroups:  

1. In-Home Parenting Workgroup  
2. Mental Health Workgroup  
3. Substance Use Disorder (SUD) Workgroup  

• Prevention Services Update - Ohio is working with the Center for the Study of Social Policy to host a Prevention Service Retreat and solidify the candidacy for foster care definition. 
• Prevention Service Resources  

• Prevention Clearinghouse Federal Letter 
• Five Principles to Defining Candidacy 
• State Title IV-E Prevention Program Reporting Assurance - Attachment I
• State Request for Waiver of Evaluation Requirement for a Well-Supported Practice - Attachment II
• State Assurance of Trauma; Informed Service; Delivery - Attachment III
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services - Attachment IV
• Administration for Children and Families (ACYF-CB-PI-18-11) - November 30, 2018
• Title IV-E Plan Pre-Print Attachment XII; Kinship Navigator Program - Attachment B
• HHS Initial Practice Criteria and First List of Services and Programs Selected for Review - Attachment C

•  Prevention Plans for other States  - It is great to see how other states are approaching the Family First Act. See what other states are doing at FamilyFirstAct.org or click the links below.    
  • Arkansas
  • District of Columbia
  • Kentucky
  • Rhode Island
  • Utah