Prevention Plan Support: FFPSA
The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) gives states, territories, and tribes the option to use child welfare programming funds (Title IV-E federal funds) for evidence-based preventive services.
The two most common questions
The Evaluation Requirement
The evaluation requirement may be waived for well-supported interventions with documentation that the program has compelling evidence.
Candidacy Definitions
We hope to highlight the definitions of candidates for foster care or imminent risk definitions that are upstream or that may cast a wider net for children and families.
Is HFA included in your state’s prevention plan?
Learn more about the progress of prevention plans in all 50 states + US Territories. Also, see examples below of prevention plans where HFA was included.
We’re here to help!
Please contact us if you need help, from prevention plan writing to HFA Implementation with FFPSA.
Now under Family First, states have the option to use these funds to provide prevention services and programs to families who are at risk of entering the child welfare system allowing “candidates for foster care” to stay with their parents or caregivers.
Including HFA in your prevention plan
Here are a few examples of how HFA has been incorporated into prevention plans in different kinds of states
In states with small footprints
Colorado
- Current HFA Sites: 1
- Number of families served through HFA in Colorado: 116
Colorado presents an interesting example on how Families First Act can be leveraged to expand the HFA model in a state where the model is not widespread. As the prevention plan explains, while the model is only being limited in some of its counties, it has the potential to be expanded in the state:
“Colorado is including Healthy Families America in its proposed service array as another home-visiting model targeting at-risk families of infants and young children. Currently, only two Colorado counties are implementing this program, but Colorado looks forward to continuing to assess its efficacy and potential for expansion in the state.”
In states with existing HV infrastructure
Maryland
- Current HFA Sites: 20
Before the Family First Act, Maryland had vast experience using MIECHV funds to widely implement seven evidence-based home visitation programs, including Healthy Families America, through their health department. This experience surely helped inform the development of their Title IV-E prevention plan, which integrated two of those home visiting programs: HFA and Nurse Family Partnership.
Maryland’s State plan provides a solid example of how pre-existing home visiting programs can be incorporated into IV-E prevention plans. An excerpt from the plan exemplifies this:
HFA is home visiting program with a goal of preventing abuse or neglect or intervening with families at high risk of abuse and neglect. Families are eligible to receive HFA services beginning prenatally or within three months of birth. When referred from child welfare, families may be enrolled with a child up to twenty-four months of age. This program is designed to serve the families of children who have increased risk for maltreatment or other adverse childhood experience. HFA is currently implemented in 20 jurisdictions, many with support from the Maryland Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) program, an initiative funded by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), in partnership with the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). The goal under this Prevention Plan is to ensure the facilitation of these services for child welfare system-involved families.
Want to contact us?
Interested in learning more about our home visiting programs or helping transform childhoods and communities? Get in touch—we’ll respond as quickly as we can.