The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) was signed into law (P.L. 115-123) as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act in February 2018, and was designed as an opportunity to allow states to receive federal reimbursement for services provided to keep children safely at home, and prevent out-of-home care when possible. By recognizing the importance of working with children and families to prevent the need for foster care placement and the trauma of unnecessary parent-child separation, the FFPSA prevention program is part of a broader vision of strengthening families by preventing child maltreatment, unnecessary removal of children from their families, and homelessness among youth. Colorado submitted its five-year Family First Prevention Services Act Prevention Plan (the Prevention Plan) to the Federal Government in August of 2022. The Prevention Plan included 9 evidence-based services that are available to all individuals/families who meet the criteria for a program: Child First, SafeCare® Colorado, Parents as Teachers, Functional Family Therapy, Multi-Systemic Therapy, Nurse Family Partnership, Fostering Healthy Futures-Preteen, Healthy Futures America, and Parent-Child Interaction Therapy.
States are eligible to receive a 50% federal reimbursement on the cost of service delivery for providing evidence-based services that were not covered by Medicaid or private insurance. It is important to note that for the purposes of a state to receiving this federal reimbursement, a child/youth is a candidate to receive Title IV-E prevention services when they are at serious risk of entering, or re-entering foster care, and who can remain safely at home with kin, with the support and provision of mental health, substance use treatment, or in-home parenting services for the child/youth, parent, or caregiver. This also includes youth in foster care who are pregnant or parenting. However, as Colorado continues its implementation of the Prevention Plan, there is continual recognition about the importance of ensuring children and families receive the services they need, when they need it.
In order to operationalize the candidacy definition, Phase One focused on those families with children who were in-home with an open child welfare case or open juvenile justice involvement. This allowed Colorado to meet the federal guidelines at the time of submission, as well as provide flexibility in the candidacy definition, to capture different strategies and approaches for Colorado to fully reach its vision.
Phase Two of the implementation plan looks towards further operationalizing Colorado’s candidacy definition, using a strategy called “Community Pathways”. Community Pathways does not change Colorado’s candidacy definition, however it allows the state to increase opportunities for Federal reimbursement through the availability and utilization of evidence-based services to more children and families, who may or may not have current child welfare involvement. Knowing that child welfare involvement is a risk factor to out-of-home placement, by providing these services upstream outside of child welfare involvement, Colorado aims to keep families together and prevent out-of-home placement altogether.
Community Pathways will vary between services, and Colorado continues to analyze and adjust approaches to implementation opportunities. In December 2024, the Children’s Bureau approved Colorado’s proposed Community Pathway for SafeCare® Colorado. Due to requirements for reimbursement under Family First, such as open child welfare involvement, a large percentage of families currently accessing SafeCare® do so without Colorado receiving reimbursement under Family First. By implementing this first Community Pathway, families who meet the Family First candidacy criteria, but do not have open child welfare or juvenile justice involvement, can continue to proactively access these high-quality, evidence-based prevention services with the Colorado Child Abuse Prevention Trust collecting the federal reimbursement. Those funds are vital for Colorado to continue to develop, promote, and enhance prevention efforts across the state.
Please find the most recent approved submission of Colorado’s Prevention Plan here.
You can contact Alysia Chang (alysia.chang@state.co.us) or Amy Sciangula (amy.sciangula@state.co.us) at the Division of Child Welfare with questions related to Family First in Colorado.