April 2018
We’re pleased to release our first RHF Perspectives, “The Family First Act: The Tailwind Needed to Increase Family-Based Care in NY” which outlines our initial thoughts and recommendations for what NY counties can do now to prepare for implementation.
The Act includes many provisions regarding: prevention services; an extension of funding for young adults in care and for Education and Training Vouchers; and new funds for kin navigators. Perhaps most important for New York, the Act reforms federal financing to prioritize family-based foster care over residential care by limiting federal reimbursement for certain residential placements. With some of the highest residential-placement rates in the country, New York State and its counties must be proactive: NY needs to prepare now by improving policies and practices to recruit and strengthen foster and kinship families and evaluate its current use of residential care.
The Family First Prevention Services Act is unprecedented in the level of policy and practice changes required to meet these new residential care requirements. However, its vision is achievable here in NY. System-reform efforts underway in counties including Westchester, Onondaga and Dutchess demonstrate that significant improvements in kinship and foster family placement rates are achievable in a short period of time.
To learn more about the FFA’s residential care provisions and what NY counties and providers can do now to prepare for its changes, click here.
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