The Office of Children’s Services is requesting comments on a proposed State Executive Council (SEC) policy that would require local Community Policy and Management Teams (CPMTs) to develop a policy outlining how the local CSA program will interact and align with the provisions of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA). FFPSA was enacted in 2018 and makes significant changes to the structure of federal funding for foster care by allowing federal funding to be used for certain prevention programming and reducing federal support for certain congregate care placements. (For additional background on FFPSA, please see a presentation on this issue by Carl Ayers, former senior staffer at the Virginia Department of Social Services, at the 2019 VACo annual conference; a video of this breakout session may be found at this link.)
Suggested language provided for comment currently reads, “Community Policy and Management Teams shall establish policies and procedures for the alignment of foster care prevention services funded through Title IV-E and the Family First Prevention Services Act (Public Law 115-123) with the local Children’s Services Act program. Such policies and procedures shall address referrals of foster care prevention cases to the Family Assessment and Planning Teams (FAPT) and the roles and responsibilities of the FAPT and Community Policy and Management Team (CPMT).”
This proposal is currently in the Notice Stage, where the SEC has indicated its intent to pursue a particular policy, and public comment is being solicited for 45 days. The SEC is scheduled to decide whether to proceed to the Proposed Stage (where the proposed text of the policy would be made available for 60 days of public comment) at its meeting on June 11, 2020.
Comments are being accepted through the Public Policy Comment Form on the OCS website, via email to csa.office@csa.virginia.gov, or via US Mail (or other delivery services) until 5:00 p.m. on May 1, 2020.
VACo Contact: Katie Boyle