The Family First Prevention Services Act of 2017

The Family First Prevention Services Act of 2017

Introduction

The Family First Prevention Services Act of 2017 includes provisions aimed at guaranteeing the safety of children by protecting them from the traumatic experience of joining the foster care program. It emphasizes the importance of children being brought up in their families. It ensures that children entering the foster care program are placed in family-like environments that meet their unique needs. The policy also requires states to review their approach to family support and child protection by funding foster care maintenance, foster parents and staff training, kinship guardianship support, and adoption assistance. States are also eligible for compensation for evidence-based prevention services such as home visits to guarantee a safe environment for children and ensure that they do not need foster care. The policy also focuses on preventing the use of group foster care by emphasizing the use of family foster homes.

Audience

The audience of the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2017 is social workers specializing in child welfare. The policy guides social workers in properly implementing foster care programs to guarantee the safety of children under foster care (Waid & Choy-Brown, 2021). The prevention activities in the policy guide social workers on how they can prevent the entry of children into foster care programs and services, the maintenance of foster care payments for children with parents in a licensed family-based substance abuse treatment facility, and e-payments for kinship programs (Lindell et al., 2020). The section reviewing enhanced support guides social workers on how to eliminate the time limit for the reunification of family services while in foster care and how to reintroduce the time-constrained reunification of family services when a child reunites with the family after leaving foster care, reduction of unnecessary delays and bureaucracy when placing children under foster care and the enhancement of grants to improve the well-being of families impacted by substance abuse.

Forum for the policy decision

The appropriate forum for the Family First Prevention Services Act of 2017 policy is the legislative branch of the government. The primary roles of the legislative body are to debate and discuss important issues in society and to make laws. Therefore, the legislature may discuss matters relating to the policy, such as its effectiveness in meeting the intended objective and areas of improvement. The legislative may also review other laws that can be used to improve the policy and formulate appropriate punishments for those found violating the policy’s provisions.

Is this a new policy or an adaptation of an existing policy?

The policy is an adaptation of the Social Security Act. According to Garcia et al. (2020), the adaptations were made to guarantee the funding of family services and foster care prevention measures to keep children supported and safe at home and ensure that the foster care environment creates a family-like setting for the children in the foster care program.

How the policy is related to the topic of children and youth

The policy is related to the topic of children and youth based on the provisions guaranteeing the safety of children and youth in foster care. For instance, the policy can be applied in assessing the necessity of placing a child in foster care based on the child’s safety in their family and whether safety can be enhanced without putting the child in foster care. The policy can also be implemented in child welfare by following the provisions on the documentation and assessment of the need to put a child in a qualified residential facility. The policy also has provision for drug abuse rehabilitation, which relates to the youth, given that many young people have substance abuse problems. For example, the provision of protocols to prevent inappropriate diagnoses can be used to diagnose substance abuse addicts and propose a proper rehabilitation program.

Conclusion

The Family First Prevention Services Act of 2017 plays a significant role in child protection and enhancing the effectiveness of the foster care program. Therefore, social workers need to understand the critical provisions outlined in the policy and how they relate to their work in child welfare protection, such as child safety assessment in families and child placement in foster care. The policy is also vital in guaranteeing proper rehabilitation of young people with substance abuse issues by placing them in residential treatment facilities.

References

Garcia, A. R., Pecora, P. J., Schnell, A. H., Burnson, C., Harris, E., & Finseth, A. (2020). Technical reviewing for the Family First Prevention Services Act: Strategies and recommendations. Children and Youth Services Review, 119, 105597. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105597

Lindell, K. U., Sorenson, C. K., & Mangold, S. V. (2020). The Family First Prevention Services Act: A new era of child welfare reform. Public Health Reports, 135(2), 282-286. https://doi.org/10.1177/0033354919900892

Waid, J., & Choy-Brown, M. (2021). Moving upstream: The Family First Prevention Services Act and re-imagining opportunities for prevention in child welfare practice. Children and Youth Services Review, 127, 106098. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2021.106098

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Submit a proposal for your policy analysis assignment. Using APA format with a title page and references, submit a two-page policy proposal that identifies the policy that you intend to analyze and the following:
The policy chosen is :

The Family First Prevention Services Act of 2017

H.R.253 – Family First Prevention Services Act of 2017

• Describe in detail the specific policy you have selected for your analysis. In addition to an overview of the policy, answer the following in your description:

• Who is the audience?
• What branch of government (legislative, executive, judicial) is the forum for this policy decision?
• Is this a new policy or an adaptation of an existing policy?
• How is this policy related to the particular topic of this course (children and youth) or your chosen practice area (also children and youth)?
• How is it related to social justice?

Reference textbook O’connon, MK & Netting, FE (2011) Analyzing Social Policy: Multiple perspectives for critically understanding and evaluating policy.