Minnesota’s Five Year Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) Plan
Development of Minnesota’s FFPSA prevention services five year plan continues on the fidelity monitoring and continuous quality improvement (CQI) requirements. After the state plan is fully developed, it will undergo a review process and then be submitted to the federal Children’s Bureau for approval. Department staff, after an engagement and consultation process, are exploring services that are rated as well-supported for initial plan submission; when a service is well-supported, a waiver may be requested for the evaluation requirement.
Proposed services
Child Safety and Permanency Division and Minnesota Association of County Social Services Administrators (MACSSA) staff co-facilitated a Services Array Sub-Workgroup in 2021 with technical assistance from Center for Study of Social Policy staff.
The sub-workgroup developed recommendations of services to include in the initial submission of the state plan. Services were prioritized that are currently available in Minnesota with existing capacity to implement the FFPSA service requirements, and meet the eligible candidate population needs. Services known to be responsive to families from different racial and ethnic backgrounds, particularly for African American and American Indian/Alaskan Native children and families, who experience disproportionate rates of child protection involvement in Minnesota, were also prioritized.
Two services recommended by the Service Array Sub-Workgroup are currently under consideration to be included in the initial submission of the state plan. Below is a short description of those services, their rating and service area as defined by the federal Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse.
- Motivational Interviewing (MI): well-supported rating, substance abuse service area
MI is used as a client engagement strategy to increase intrinsic motivation and promote behavior change in clients with ambivalence for change.
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Parents as Teachers (PAT): well-supported rating, in-home parent skill based service area
PAT is an in home-visiting program targeted at families with children 5 years of age and under, with special needs, at-risk for child abuse, income-based, teen or first time parents, or struggling with mental health or substance abuse issues. Enrollment can occur from prenatal stages up to before a child enters kindergarten. The goals of PAT are to improve parenting skills, increase parent knowledge of early childhood development, improve school readiness and prevent child abuse and neglect.
CQI Sub-Workgroup
The CQI Sub-Workgroup was formed to develop recommendations for the CQI, fidelity monitoring and evaluation requirements for the state plan.
The CQI sub-workgroup met during February-March 2022 and consisted of stakeholders with CQI expertise and/or experience in implementing Motivational Interviewing and Parents as Teachers prevention services. The sub-workgroup was co-facilitated by department, county and Center for Study of Social Policy staff.
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ACYF-CB-IM-18-09, p. 9, for information on FFPSA prevention plan CQI requirements
More FFPSA resources
- DHS FFPSA County Link webpage
- Children’s Bureau webpage for status of submitted Title IV-E Prevention plans
Questions
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