Family First Prevention Services Act

To better understand the opportunities that Family First presents for youth experiencing homelessness, we conducted more than 25 interviews with youth service providers, child welfare leaders, researchers, and policy experts (collectively “youth homelessness and child welfare experts”). These interviews revealed that many in the child welfare and RHY fields are excited about the opportunity to leverage Family First to prevent entry into foster care and to reduce the use of congregate care. Simultaneously, many interviewees expressed concern about the law’s possible unintended consequences for runaway and homeless youth. They cautioned that its impact would depend on multiple youth-serving systems’ ability to collaborate in achieving their collective goals.