The ABA's national technical assistance resource and information clearinghouse on legal and policy matters affecting the education of children in the foster care system

American Bar Association summary of key responsibilities and opportunities for legal professionals to help implement Family First.

This article from Child Law Practice Today (ABA Center on Children and the Law) explores the importance of fictive kin and why states should either include fictive kin in the definition of “relative” for purposes of ASFA, GAP, kinship foster care, and child placement, or define “fictive kin” in their statutes and then apply all policies regarding relatives to relatives and fictive kin equally. 

The Children’s Bureau letter released June 2019 to child welfare leaders providing an update on the new Title IV-E Prevention Program, created under the Family First Prevention Services Act, specifically as it relates to how states can claim transitional payments for prevention services not yet reviewed and rated in the Clearinghouse if the state submits sufficient documentation that demonstrates how the service meets the evidence-based criteria outlined in Family First. The Children’s Bureau will be issuing further guidance on these transitional payments. 

This second in a series of Family First briefs focuses on Leveraging the Family First Prevention Services Act to Improve Use of Title IV-E GAP in states and tribes.  This brief contains an analysis on the impact of this new law on GAP  and provides action steps to promote its use for children in relative care.