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DHS Program Resources Family First Prevention Services Act

Family First Prevention Services Act

The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) of 2018 is federal legislation that changes the way child welfare services are provided in Minnesota. The FFPSA gives state, county and tribal child welfare agencies the ability to receive 50% reimbursement for federally approved services for children at imminent risk of out-of-home placement and their caregivers. The FFPSA establishes placement prevention services to strengthen families, prevent maltreatment, and addresses other conditions that lead to out-of-home placement.

When out-of-home placement is necessary, FFPSA supports placement in family foster homes. It establishes restrictions on out-of-home placements in congregate care, and requirements for residential treatment facilities. For information, review Family First Prevention Services Act fact sheet, DHS-3771 (PDF).

For frequently asked questions for FFPSA residential placements, review FAQ document (PDF).

See the webpage links below for the following plans for information on developing federal requirements for:

Announcements

Required training for direct contact staff in certified settings serving sex trafficked, commercially sexually exploited and at risk youth (ST/CSE/At Risk youth)- Available now!
All direct contact staff working in certified residential settings for ST/CSE/At Risk youth are required by statute to take the new commissioner-approved training, which is now available here. The training is made up of 12 sub-modules and takes less than four hours to complete. Please see the training website for more information about timelines and details for completion.

Federal approval of the qualified individual waiver
The Children’s Bureau notified the Minnesota Department of Human Services that the waiver for county employees to perform the functions of qualified individuals for the purpose of providing assessments of placements in qualified residential treatment programs has been approved. To maintain objectivity in determining the most effective and appropriate placements for children, the approved waiver offers county agencies the following two options for employees to be designated as qualified individuals:

  • Designated county employee outside of the child welfare system.
  • Regional collaborative agreements among counties

The department will provide information about the process for county agencies to designate county employees, and how to register for the two-day required training for all qualified individuals.

Please review Bulletin 22-68-06: Qualified individual waiver instructions for county and tribal social services agencies for more information.

Title IV-E prevention services initial five-year plan approved

State agencies electing to provide Title IV-E prevention programs must develop and submit a five-year prevention plan for their Title IV-E prevention program. Prevention plans must be submitted to the federal Children’s Bureau for review and approval.

The department submitted the initial prevention plan for federal review and approval on September 30, 2022. During the federal review process, additional refinement of the initial prevention plan was completed, along with minor modifications to the Family First Prevention Services Act: Prevention services bulletin (#22-68-07C) to meet additional submission requirements. Final federal approval was received on January 5, 2023.

GovDelivery communications

May 2024: May is National Foster Care Month
April 2024; REVISED: Updates for prevention services and qualified individual residential treatment programs
March 19, 2024: Qualified Residential Treatment Program (QRTP) Assessment Resources and Best Practice Guidance
July 8, 2023: Qualified Individual Program: Invitation to an informational meeting about an upcoming Request for Proposal
March 30, 2023: Family First Qualified Individuals Announcement
Nov. 30, 2022: Clarification: required process and information when utilizing state sponsored Qis and QRTP assessment best practice
Nov. 23, 2022: Seeking Qualified Individuals opportunity
Sept. 30, 2022: Update on plan for kinship navigator program
Sept. 1, 2022: Policy and practice: Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) for out-of-state placements in qualified residential treatment programs
Aug. 24, 2022: Announcement: Oct. 18 webinar on changes to relative engagement and relative search practices for children in foster care
Aug. 9, 2022: Quality assurance: qualified residential treatment program (QRTP) placement documentation in SSIS and extended QRTP placement reviews
Aug. 4, 2022: Announcement: qualified individual (QI) training scheduled for November
July 12, 2022: Announcement: Upcoming qualified individual (QI) trainings for August and September 2022
July 1, 2022: FFPSA documentation of residential placements in Social Service Information System (SSIS)
June 23, 2022: Clarification: required information and engagement of family and permanency team necessary to complete QRTP assessments
June 13, 2022: FFPSA Tribal Question & Answer Information Session to be rescheduled
June 8, 2022: FFPSA Five Year Plan Update
June 2, 2022: FFPSA Tribal Question & Answer Information Session – June 14, 2022
May 16, 2022: FFPSA five year plan update: Kinship services
April 26, 2022: What we learned from the regional listening sessions
April 8, 2022: Qualified Individual and QRTP Update
April 1, 2022: Prevention services update: five year plan, proposed prevention services and tenuous quality improvement sub workgroup
Mar. 2, 2022: Family First Residential Placement Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ’s)
Feb. 28, 2022: Update: Training for facility staff in certified settings for ST/CSE/At Risk youth
Feb. 11, 2022: When does an agency need to request a QI to complete a QRTP assessment?
Feb. 4, 2022: FFPSA resources on the Minnesota Judicial Branch website
Feb. 2, 2022: Update on listening sessions for supervisors
Jan. 28, 2022: Announcement: Upcoming qualified individual (QI) trainings for February through June 2022
Jan. 7, 2022: Early Intensive and Developmental Behavioral Intervention Program and Upcoming Webinar
Dec. 30, 2021: Update on listening sessions for supervisors
Dec. 30, 2021: Register to participate in Minnesota’s upcoming Children Summit
Dec. 15, 2021: Listening sessions for supervisors
Dec. 14, 2021: See progress in action at upcoming Children’s Summit
Dec. 7, 2021: Prevention services update – Evaluation, fidelity, monitoring, and continuous quality improvement plan
Dec. 3, 2021: Training announcement for staff working with youth who experienced or are at risk of sex trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation
Dec. 2, 2021: Listening sessions for supervisors
Nov. 22, 2021: Residential placement for pregnant and parenting youth
Nov. 10, 2021: Court collaboration
Nov 3, 2021: Prevention services updated Title IV-E Five-year Prevention
Oct. 20, 2021: Federal waiver approved for county employees to be qualified individual
Oct. 14, 2021: Foster care maintenance payments and foster residences
Oct. 4, 2021: Accreditation Cost Reimbursement Application Available
Sept. 29, 2021: Qualified individuals and QRTP assessment requirements effective Sept. 30
Sept. 23, 2021: Reimbursement for QRTP accreditation costs available
Sept. 14, 2021: Specialized children's residential facilities information opportunities
Sept. 8, 2021: Court review requirements training
Aug. 31, 2021: Qualified individuals program
Aug. 18, 2021: Publications and webinars
July 30, 2021: Qualified individuals and webinar series registration
July 23, 2021: Preparing for implementation of Family First Prevention Services Act

Resources

Below is a list of resources on the Family First Prevention Services Act:

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