The federal Family First Preservation Services Act shifts child welfare funding from group homes and residential treatment to prevention services.
This is a positive development overall. But deep-end placements will still be needed and, unless the state steps in, counties will ultimately pay for these expensive services.
Also, the state wants to delay implementation until 2021, which adversely affects counties ready to implement a prevention strategy.
And, so far the federal government has only approved a few services for payment – including ones that may not be widely available in Minnesota.
Finally, the funding strongly favors services backed by research. This will exclude small agencies that engage hard-to-reach families but typically don’t attract research dollars.
More work is needed from federal and state agencies for this Act to fulfill its promise.