Vol. 5, No. 1
April 2000

The System Reform Issues Guiding Families for Kids 2 (FFK2)

The system reform issues FFK2 will address include:

1. Accessible and effective family support and prevention of abuse and neglect. Counties that choose to focus on this issue will probably seek to establish community-based, community "owned" programs that promote optimal family functioning. These programs may focus on things such as enhancing post-adoption/post-placement support, increasing family access to day care, and using and strengthening support systems families already have.

2. Court reform to improve permanency outcomes for children. Counties that choose to focus on this issue may try to facilitate relative placements, have court orders ready when people walk out to the courtroom, and improve enforcement of ASFA timelines.

3. Substance abuse intervention. Counties that choose to focus on this issue may seek to address confidentiality issues that are barriers to collaboration between agencies or to come up with new ways to ensure child safety while allowing for relapses, a normal part of the recovery process.

4. Family assessment approaches to child protective services. Counties that choose to focus on this issue might implement a dual track child welfare response similar to the ones used in Virginia and Missouri, or they might make family group conferencing a routine part of CPS.

5. Disproportionate representation of families and children of color. Counties that choose to focus on this issue may seek to improve cultural diversity training for professionals throughout the community and to enhance recruitment and education of foster and adoptive families.

6. Collaboration with Juvenile Justice. Counties that choose to focus on this issue will probably seek to stop the cycle of children entering the system through CPS and moving from foster care to juvenile justice to adult court.

7. Permanence for long-term foster care children (over 30 months). Counties that choose to focus on this issue may look at intensive services for older foster children, developing ways of cultivating relationships between community members and foster teens, or enhancing independent living resources.