Today a Federal Register Notice on the Proposed Model Family Foster Home Licensing Standards was published. It will be open for comment until October 1, 2018 at www.regulations.gov. The text of the Proposed Model Family Foster Home Licensing Standards can be found here.  ACF is proposing one set of standards for comment to apply to relatives and non-relatives, as well as state and tribal title IV-E agencies.

The Family First Prevention Service Act  (FFPSA) (signed into law on February 9, 2018 as part of The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, Public Law 115-123) directs HHS to “identify reputable model licensing standards with respect to the licensing of foster family homes. By April 1, 2019, title IV-E agencies must provide the HHS specific and detailed information about:

• Whether the state or tribal agency foster family home licensing standards are consistent with the model licensing standards identified by HHS, and if not, the reason; and
• Whether the state or tribal agency waives non-safety licensing standards for relative foster family homes and if so, how caseworkers are trained to use the waiver authority and whether the agency has developed a process or provided tools to assist caseworkers in waiving these non-safety standards to quickly place children with relatives.”

The federal register notice recognizes that “The Children’s Bureau relied heavily upon the NARA standards in drafting the proposed National Model Family Foster Home Licensing Standards. The NARA standards were developed by attorneys at Generations United and the American Bar Association who researched family foster care licensing standards in state codes, regulations, and policies for each state and the District of Columbia.” Learn more about the standards. Learn more about licensing grandfamilies

House Hearing on Implementation of Family First Act

Last Tuesday the House Ways and Means Committee held a hearing on implementation of the Family First Prevention Services Act.  The witness, Jerry Milner, Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau,  responded to questions from committee members including multiple questions related to kinship navigators programs, model family foster home licensing standards, and prevention programs impacting grandfamilies. Watch the hearing here: https://waysandmeans.house.gov/event/hearing-on-the-opioid-crisis-implementation-of-the-family-first-prevention-services-act-ffpsa/