The things that President Trump does, get a lot of press time – both from his supporters and from his detractors. However, not every bill he’s signed into law has got the coverage it’s deserved, and the Family First Prevention Services Act is no exception. Tucked into a massive spending bill that rolled out in May, this Act will reform America’s foster care system in ways that are decades overdue.
How will this bill make a difference to foster children in Michigan?
The Family First Prevention Services Act was created with foster children’s wellbeing in mind. Specifically, because countless studies that proven that children do better when kept with their families, even when those families face enormous difficulties, this law aims to keep families together whenever possible, throughout the US.
So how exactly will CPS be incentivized to keep families together?
The act incentivizes keeping families together by allowing federal reimbursement for several support services that can be offered to parents, children, and entire families while they work together to overcome their difficulties. These include:
- Mental health services and supports
- Substance use treatment,
- In-home parenting skills training.
The act also hopes to improve the lives of children who are already in foster care by incentivizing states to avoid using congregate care as a placement option for children. Congregate care is just another name for group homes, or institutionalized foster homes, where children are placed in large numbers when the state can’t find traditional foster homes for them.
When will we start seeing the changes here in Michigan?
The federal government plans to release their compliance guidelines next month in October, so until then, states have been left to try and figure out what the changes will mean for their individual systems. Some states, like Colorado and North Carolina, are concerned because they rely heavily on group homes for their foster children. In Michigan, we’re hoping that the changes will prompt CPS workers to keep more families together, providing support services to those in need instead of simply taking their children away.
CPS has a long history of taking children away from their parents unnecessarily!
CPS has been tearing families apart all over America for decades, and her in Michigan we have a particularly heartbreaking history of family destruction. Hopefully this new federal law will help promote change in our very broken child welfare system. But until then, if you or a loved one have been accused of abusing or neglecting a child, or CPS workers have shown up on your door, call The Kronzek Firm immediately at 866 766 5245. Our skilled and experienced CPS defense attorneys are here to help you!