1 of 10

Understanding Claiming Under the Family First Prevention Services Act:

Session One

CDHS/CHSDA Series

August 2021

1

2 of 10

Presenters

(in order of appearance)

Minna Castillo Cohen, Director of OCYF

Alexis Kuznick, Director CHSDA

Angelina Callis, DCW Family First PM

Bradly Borges, DCW Fiscal & Policy Analyst

Aaron Miller, Family Strengthening Director OEC

Mollie Bradlee, Deputy Director of OCYF

2

3 of 10

Agenda

Understanding the basics of Family First funding
State Children’s Trust Fund Act
Understanding Core funding and the Trust Fund
Questions & resources

3

4 of 10

Family First

What is IV-E reimbursement?
Traditional IV-E and Family First IV-E

There is candidacy under both, so it can get confusing!
“You can drawdown funds for [service] on October 1st!”

Family First reimbursement

IV-E penetration rate
Prevention requirements - ACYF-BG-PI-18-09
Prevention services under Family First

4

Title IV-E foster care funds are awarded to the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and federally-recognized Indian Tribes, Indian Tribal organizations and Tribal consortia with approved title IV-E plans, and are available as open-ended entitlement grants through single-year appropriations.

Specifically, the program permits title IV-E agencies to claim reimbursement for a portion of foster care expenditures for children who are removed from home and placed in foster care, and who are eligible based on the former AFDC program (in effect July 16, 1996).

Traditional IV-E purpose and the new vision under Family First.
Candidacy under Family First has no income restrictions, youth & families need only to meet Colorado’s definition of candidacy

A child/youth is a candidate to receive Title IV-E prevention services when they are at serious risk of entering or reentering foster care but able to remain safely at home with the provision of mental health, substance use treatment, or in-home parenting services for the child/youth, parent, or kin caregiver. To be eligible, the child/youth’s candidate status must be designated in the child/youth’s prevention plan, and services must be directly related to the safety, permanence, or wellbeing of the child/youth. A child/youth in foster care who is a pregnant or parenting foster youth are also candidates.
See Colorado’s prevention plan here for more details: https://co4kids.org/sites/default/files/Family%20First%20Prevention%20Plan.pdf

Traditional IV-E candidacy

A candidate for foster care is a child who is at serious risk of removal from home as evidenced by the title IV-E agency either pursuing his/her removal from the home or making reasonable efforts to prevent such removal.

Reimbursement

Reimbursement under Family First for the provision of prevention services does not have to go through the penetration rate like Traditional IV-E.
The PI provides a good summary of the requirements of prevention services under Family First
There are specific requirements in order for prevention services to be claimable, they have to be in the State’s plan, and in general they need to be rated in the Federal Clearinghouse.

Traditional IV-E - The title IV-E Agency must submit yearly estimates of program expenditures as well as quarterly reports of estimated and actual program expenditures in support of the awarded funds. Traditional IV-E provided funds for monthly maintenance payments for the daily care and supervision of eligible children; administrative costs to manage the program; training of staff and foster care providers; recruitment of foster parents and costs related to the design, implementation and operation of a state-wide data collection system.
Title IV-E foster care is an annually appropriated program with specific eligibility requirements and fixed allowable uses of funds (https://www.acf.hhs.gov/cb/grant-funding/title-iv-e-foster-care).

5 of 10

Colorado Children’s Trust Fund

HB21-1248

Section 19-3.5-105. Colorado child abuse prevention trust fund - creation - source of funds
Creation of the Board

What does this mean for reimbursement for Family First prevention services?

Service Provision
Administrative Dollars

How will the Trust Fund support prevention programs?

5

6 of 10

Core & The Trust Fund

What is the connection between Core funding and the Trust Fund?
Effect to Core funding after Family First goes into effect
Understanding how to use the two funding sources
Trust Fund

Capacity
Service Delivery
Sustainability

6

7 of 10

RESOURCES

7

8 of 10

Resources

For more information on Family First in Colorado: https://coloradocwts.com/family-first
For more information on IV-E from the Federal perspective, start here.
Implementation guidance for counties can be found in the Implementation Guide for County Directors, at https://co4kids.org/family-first-implementation-guide-county-directors

8

9 of 10

Resources

Colorado Evaluation and Action Lab Report - “Strategy for the evidence-based aspects of the Family First service continuum”
Track the CDHS progress of Family First implementation on the dashboard, https://co4kids.org/family-first-dashboard
Submit Family First related questions on the CO4Kids website.

9

10 of 10

THANK YOU FOR JOINING US

10