#FamilyFirstAct

The Imprint’s analysis of New York child welfare agencies’ reliance on family and friends reveals where children end up depends a lot on geography. Part one of a two-part series.

Last week, City Journal, a magazine and website published by the Manhattan Institute, published a fear-mongering column entitled “Parents Rights,’ at the Expense of Kids’ Safety.” In that piece, a writer named Naomi Schaefer Riley, a fellow with the American Enterprise Institute, made two points.

Last week, Sens. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) and Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) introduced legislation that would allow scores of state and county child welfare agencies to delay implementing a new federal law that promises to reshape foster care.

Imagine being a child protection agency director 20 years ago and making a bold decision to use the flexibility that comes with capped federal dollars to keep kids from entering foster care – instead of using the funding only as intended, to remove children from struggling families and place them into the system.

Last week, Congress passed and the President signed into law the Family First Prevention Services Act. It is an encompassing and complex piece of legislation that will take some time for states to figure out in terms of the opportunities, as well as the data collection, reporting, accountability and state plan requirements that accompany those opportunities.