Introduction
Background
Overview
The First Year
What are Family Preservation and Family Support Services?
The Five-year Plan
Developing the Plan
Consultation
Needs Assessment
Joint Planning
Level of Funding
Evaluations
References
Resources

Introduction

New legislation, entitled "Family Preservation and Family Support Services," has been added to the Social Security Act. This new legislation, contained in the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993, P.L. 103-66, amended title IV-B by adding subpart 2. This new legislation provides funds

"for the purpose of encouraging and enabling each state to develop and establish, or expand, and to operate a program of family preservation services and community-based family support services."

The legislation will be administered by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children's Bureau. The individual fifty states, the District of Columbia, forty-one Indian tribes, and the territories of the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, Puerto Rico, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands are eligible for funding under the legislation.

Background

The Family Preservation and Support Services program is the first major change to Title IV-B since the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act of 1980, P.L. 96-272, which was intended to

• Prevent the unnecessary separation of children from their families

• Improve the quality of care and services to children and their families

• Ensure permanency for children by reunifying them with their parents or through adoption or another permanent living arrangement

For a wide variety of reasons, these goals have not been fully realized. Social, cultural, and economic changes have affected the number of families referred to child welfare agencies and the severity of their problems. Among these changes are an increase in substance abuse, community violence, poverty, and homelessness. Reports of child abuse, particularly child sexual abuse, and neglect have also risen dramatically.

The child welfare system, with constrained resources, high caseloads, and overburdened workers, has struggled to keep up with these increased demands. Services have focused more on crisis intervention than on prevention. There has been a lack of services that fit the real needs of families, and often child welfare services have been isolated from other services vulnerable families need, such as housing, employment, counseling and substance abuse prevention.

In response to these needs, Congress passed and on August 10, 1993, President Clinton signed legislation for preventive services and for services to families in crisis. The new program provides $930 million over five years for redefining and/or expanding services. It offers states an extraordinary opportunity to assess and change the way services are delivered. Recognizing that the old categorical programs and fragmented service delivery systems do not work, states are encouraged to use the Family Preservation and Support Services legislation as a catalyst to establish a continuum of services: coordinated, integrated, culturally relevant, and family-focused.

Overview

Additional funding alone will not be enough to meet the goals of the new legislation. Because of this, the best use of the funds will be to strategically and creatively stimulate and encourage broad system reform.

States and Indian tribes are expected to take advantage of the opportunity to move the child welfare service system toward a more coordinated, flexible system, built on and linked to existing community services and supports, and able to serve children, youth, and their families in a more effective, holistic manner.

The new legislation intends to

• Promote family strength and stability

• Enhance parental functioning

• Protect children and youth

• Resolve crisis and problems

• Prevent unnecessary out-of-home placement

This will be accomplished through a continuum of services:

• family support and family preservation services, such as respite, counseling, parent training, budgeting and conflict resolution

• child welfare services (prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect and foster care)

• services to support reunification, adoption, kinship care, independent living, or other permanent living arrangements

• links with services that meet other needs, such as housing, employment, health, and education

New or expanded services, however, are just one element needed to improve the child welfare system. In many states, tribes, and communities, major changes already are being implemented in the way services are delivered and in the systems that deliver them. In this way, states and Indian tribes can ensure that services are part of a comprehensive, coordinated delivery system that draws heavily on in-home and community-based programs in its design and implementation.

The First Year

The first step in the implementation of the Family Preservation and Support Services legislation is for each state and Indian tribe to develop and submit a five-year plan. To this end, $57.4 million out of a total federal appropriation of $60 million was available in the first year for state grants for planning and services. Up to $1 million of any allotment could be used for planning purposes, with one hundred percent federal funding available, meaning no state match was required. Funds not needed to develop the plan could be used for services, based on approval from the federal office.

The application for FY 1994 funds had to be made no later than June 30, 1994, and was to include provisions for comprehensive planning and other planning-related activities, such as training, technical assistance, assessment, public information and education, and analyses.

FY 1995 funds will be available only after the state has submitted and received approval for a five-year plan for services that meets all requirements.

Although each of the 41 eligible Indian tribes is required to submit a plan, these plans may be exempt from certain requirements if they are determined to be inappropriate, taking into account the resources, needs, and other circumstances of the tribe. Separate program instructions from ACF have been issued for grants to Indian tribes.

What are Family Preservation and Family Support Services?

Family support and family preservation services date back to the turn of the century, to Hull House and the settlement house movement. Recently, however, there has been an increased interest in such programs by state and local governments, foundations, national organizations, and non-profit agencies. These organizations have promoted changes in child welfare to support "family-centered practice" and have experimented with the way child welfare services are organized and delivered, moving toward greater community direction and control.

One example of family-centered practice is respite, which is designed to provide crisis intervention as well as preventive services to families. In this way, respite is both a family preservation service and a family support service.

Family preservation services are intended to help families whose children are in imminent danger of abuse or neglect, while family support services are designed to enhance the family. Both family support and family preservation services, however, are based on a common set of principles:

• The welfare and safety of children, youth, and of all family members must be maintained, and the family is strengthened and preserved whenever possible.

• Services are focused on the family as a whole; instead of services focusing on family deficits or dysfunctions, family strengths are identified, enhanced, and respected; service providers work with families as partners in identifying and meeting needs.

• Services, delivered in a way that respects cultural and community differences, are easily accessible and convenient for parents' schedules, often delivered in the home or in community-based settings.

• Services are flexible, are crucial to and respond to real family needs, and are linked to a wide variety of other services, such as housing, substance abuse treatment, mental health, health, job training, and child care.

• Services are community-based and involve community organizations and residents, including parents, in their design and delivery.

• Services are intensive enough to meet family needs and keep children safe, although the level of intensity may vary greatly between preventive and crisis services.

As states and Indian tribes develop their plans, these principles should provide an organizing framework. The plans should also be based on the following goals:

• Enhancing the ability of parents to create stable and nurturing home environments that promote healthy child development, and family self-sufficiency

• Helping children, youth, and families resolve crises, connect with necessary and appropriate services, and remain safely together in their homes

• Avoiding unnecessary out-of-home placement for children and youth, and helping those already out of the home to return and stay with their families or in another planned, permanent living arrangement

Family Preservation Services are designed to help families (including adoptive and extended families) at risk or in crises, often because the child is in imminent risk of being placed out of the home because of abuse or neglect.

These are the goals of family preservation services:

• Resolve the immediate crisis

• Maintain the safety of children in their own homes

• Support families preparing to reunite or adopt

• Help families obtain services that meet their multiple needs in a culturally appropriate manner and prevent unnecessary out-of-home placement

These services include:

• programs designed to help children and youth return to their families, or be placed for adoption, with a legal guardian, or in some other planned, permanent living arrangement

• pre-placement preventive programs, such as intensive family preservation programs, to help children remain with their families

• follow-up care to adopting families or to families to whom a child has been returned after a foster care placement

• respite for children to provide temporary relief for parents and other caregivers (including foster parents)

• services designed to improve parenting skills in such matters as child development, family budgeting, coping with stress, health, nutrition, and conflict resolution

• intervention and advocacy services for victims of domestic violence.

If a child cannot be protected from harm without placement, or if the family does not have adequate strengths on which to build, family preservation services are not appropriate.

Family Support Services are most often provided at the local level by community-based organizations to promote the well-being of children, youth, and families.

They are designed to

• Increase the strength and stability of families (including adoptive, foster, and extended families)

• Increase parents' confidence and competence in their parenting abilities in order to successfully nurture their children

• Afford children and youth a stable and supportive family environment

• Enhance child development

• Enable families to use other resources and opportunities available in the community

• Create supportive networks to enhance child-rearing abilities and help compensate for the increased social isolation and vulnerability of families

These services include the following:

• programs designed to improve parenting skills in such areas as child development, family budgeting, coping with stress, health, and nutrition through in-home visits, parent support groups, and other programs that reinforce parents' confidence in their strengths, help them identify where improvement is needed, and help them find ways to improve their skills

• respite for children, providing temporary relief for parents and other caregivers

• structured activities for parents and children to strengthen the parent-child relationship

• drop-in centers that give families the opportunity to interact informally with other families and with program staff members

• information and referral services that give families access to other community services, including child care, health care, nutrition programs, adult education and literacy programs, and counseling and mentoring services

• early developmental screening for children to assess their needs and to help families obtain specific services to meet those needs

• mentoring, tutoring, and health education for youth

• home-visiting activities

Some activities, such as providing respite, counseling, conflict resolution, improving parenting skills, making home visits, and helping families obtain services, may be considered either family support or family preservation services.

The Five-year Plan

This new focus on family-centered, community-linked services requires changes in the vision, philosophy, design, and delivery of child welfare services. The critical first step is the development of a five-year plan. The legislation recognizes this extraordinary opportunity by making funds available forand requiringsuch a plan. The plans for FY 1995-99 are to be submitted as soon as possible after the completion of the initial planning process and no later than June 30, 1995.

A strategic planning process is necessary and should include state, local, and community agencies and institutions, as well as parents, consumers, and other interested individuals. A major goal should be to examine the changes needed to make service delivery more responsive to individual and community needs and more sensitive to the context in which they are to be delivered.

The plan must

• Include the major programs serving children, youth, and their families, such as child welfare, mental health, public health, juvenile justice, and education

• Consider family support and family preservation services as part of the overall continuum, not as isolated categorical programs

• Provide an opportunity for multiple federal, state, local, and community agencies and organizations to become partners on behalf of children, youth, and families

• Set forth the goals intended to be accomplished under the plan by the end of the fifth fiscal year, and update these goals periodically

• Describe the methods to be used to measure progress toward accomplishing the goals

The state agency or tribal organization will administer or supervise the program and assure that an interim review of the plan's goals is performed at the end of each fiscal year. At the end of the last fiscal year, a final review will be conducted. Based on the review findings, the plan's goals will be revised if necessary. The state also will coordinate services provided under the plan and those provided under other federal or federally-assisted programs serving the same populations.

A plan will be approved only if it has been developed jointly by the federal government and the state or Indian tribe. This is to be done after the appropriate public and non-profit private agencies and community-based organizations experienced in administering services for children and families, including family preservation and family support services, have been consulted.

The plan must contain

• an annual description of the service programs available under the plan in the immediately succeeding fiscal year, the populations which the programs will serve, and the geographic areas in which the services will be available

• assurances that not more than 10 percent of expenditures for any fiscal year are to be used for administrative costs

• assurances that funds under the legislation will not be used to supplant other money for existing family preservation and family support services and activities

The plan should articulate a vision and a strategy for achieving that vision, and set goals and ways to measure the progress toward those goals. The plan should also identify practical next steps toward a more comprehensive and integrated continuum of services that responds to the needs of vulnerable families.

States are urged to consider targeting services in the areas of greatest need and to support community-based strategies. This has the potential of drawing on multiple funding sources. States also are encouraged to move in the direction of statewide service, although there is no requirement that this be done by a specific date.

Instructions for developing tribal plans have been issued separately by ACF.

Developing the Plan

The development of the plan should be characterized by

• broad consultation and involvement

• a needs assessment

• joint planning between the staff of the federal and state agencies

Consultation

In isolation, family support and family preservation services cannot effectively address the needs of children, youth, and families. Because of this, the major entities across the entire spectrum of services need to be consulted and actively involved in the planning. These include

• state and local public agencies, non-profit private agencies, and community-based organizations with experience administering service programs for children and families (including family support and family preservation)

• representatives of communities, Indian tribes, and other areas where needs for family support and family preservation are high

• parents (especially those who are participating, or who have participated, in family support and/or family preservation programs), foster parents, adoptive parents, parents with a family member with a disability, and other consumers

• representatives of professional and advocacy organizations (including foundations and national resource centers), individual practitioners working with children and families, and the courts

• state and local agencies administering federal and federally-assisted programs

Consultation has many purposes

• Developing new and more effective services

• Assessing family and community needs

• Eliminating service duplication

• Identifying service overlaps and gaps

• Identifying available resources, including money, facilities, staff, and expertise

• Developing strategies for merging financial resources, using common application forms, or simplifying procedures for managing cases

Needs Assessment

Because an essential component of the planning process is the collection of information on which to base service decisions and determine future goals, states are strongly recommended to conduct a thorough needs assessment. This should identify

• the existing array of family support, family preservation, and other related services currently being provided

• resources and sources of funding

• duplication in existing service delivery

• gaps and deficiencies in services

• data on which to base target population decisions

• Data should include

• census data on demographic characteristics of children and families

• data on child abuse and neglect and infant mortality

• data on communities that experience high rates of foster care placements

• data about communities experiencing disproportionately high levels of poverty, homelessness, substance abuse, or teen pregnancy

• state legislative and city planning data

In gathering this data, states are encouraged to project what the future circumstances of families and children might be if nothing were done.

Joint Planning

This is an ongoing process of discussion, consultation, and negotiation between the state child welfare agency and the federal regional office representative. It includes federal technical assistance to the state agency and consultation with other state, local, and community-based agencies in order to develop a state plan focused on the following:

• priorities for services and for target populations

• proposed goals and objectives

• unmet needs, service gaps, and funding overlaps

• other funding resources available to provide the needed services

• the state and local organizations, foundations, and agencies with which the child welfare agency can coordinate

• improving the state's service delivery system and ensuring an efficient, comprehensive system of care for children and families

• methods for reviewing progress toward these goals

After the state plan has been developed and approved, joint planning will mean federal guidance and technical assistance in reviewing how the identified goals have been accomplished and in updating the plan as appropriate.

The Level of Funding

The authorizations are as follows:

• $60 million for FY 1994

• $150 million for FY 1995

• $225 million for FY 1996

• $240 million for FY 1997

• $255 million for FY 1998, or the FY 1997 authorization increased by an inflation percentage, whichever is greater

Of the total appropriation of $60 million for FY 1994, $57.4 million was available to states and territories for planning and services, $2 million was reserved for federal evaluation, research, training, and technical assistance, and $600,000 was reserved for grants to 41 Indian tribes.

For FY 1995, the authorization for state and territorial grants increases to $142.5 million. The Indian tribes are appropriated $1.5 million, based on a one-percent set-aside. The remainder, $6 million, is reserved for federal evaluation, research, training, and technical assistance. In FY 1995 there will also be a new program of grants, funded at $5 million, to state courts.

Individual allotments to each Indian tribe shall be made directly to the tribes, not through the states, and are based on the number of children in that tribe compared to the total number of children in all Indian tribes with approved plans. Allotments to states are based on the "food stamp percentage," that is, the average monthly number of children receiving food stamp benefits in the state for the three most recent fiscal years.

States cannot use other federal funds to meet the costs of family preservation and support services not covered by the allotment.

Evaluations

The Federal government will evaluate programs funded under the legislation and any other federal, state, or local programs, whether or not they are federally assisted, that have the same family support and family preservation goals.

States are encouraged to design their own evaluation program, one that will assess service outcomes in a number of ways. The following are among the things that should be considered in the evaluation:

• improved family functioning

• continued substance abuse

• stable housing and employment

• participation in other services

• completion of training programs

• new incidents of abuse or neglect

By designing a state evaluation, information can be gathered that will assist in developing and improving service delivery. It will also make readily available the data that will be needed in the federal evaluation.

References

Family Preservation and Support Services Program Instruction, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau, ACYF-PI-94-01, January 18, 1994.

Title IV-B of the Social Security Act, Subpart 2, Family Preservation and Support Services; Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 (P.L. 103-66); 45 CFR Part 92.

Resources

ARCH National Resource Center for Respite and Crisis Care Services, Chapel Hill Training-Outreach Project, 800 Eastowne Drive, Suite 105, Chapel Hill, NC 27514, (800) 473-1727.

National Center for Training and Technical Assistance Coordination, CDM Group, Inc., 5530 Wisconsin Avenue, Suite 1660, Chevy Chase, MD 20815, (301) 654-2210.

ARCH Factsheet Number 37, Nov., 1994