Child Welfare Protocols
What are the Child Welfare Protocols?
The Healthy Families America (HFA) model serves families with varying needs and has, since its inception, been specifically designed to serve families with high levels of stress, including those referred from child welfare.
HFA provides sites with extra technical assistance to support community-level work with child welfare-referred families. This ensures sites will maintain the expected rigor and fidelity requirements providers have expected from HFA for over 30 years. HFA sites utilizing the protocols for working with families referred from child welfare can extend enrollment for families with a child up to 24 months of age referred by the child welfare system. This is in keeping with the model’s original design to offer services until the child is five years of age. Consistent with HFA requirements, voluntary services will be offered for a minimum of three years, regardless of the child’s age at intake, and support will be tailored to the unique needs of each family.
Lynn Kosanovich
HFA Principal Trainer Emeritus
We recognize that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to supporting families, so our focus on the relationship between the parent/caregiver and child means that we approach each family in a uniquely supportive way.
Why is HFA a good fit for states seeking to reduce the number of children placed in foster care?
HFA’s evidence and the flexibility of enrollment make HFA a great prevention choice for states and child welfare organizations seeking to strengthen families and reduce the number of children placed in foster care.
HFA is "Well Supported" for Family First
The Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) gives states, territories, and tribes the option to use child welfare programming funds (title IV-E federal funds) for evidence-based preventive services. The Healthy Families America (HFA) model has received the highest possible rating of “well-supported” through the Prevention Services Clearinghouse, and many states have included the HFA model as part of their prevention plan.
The evidence shows - it works!
HFA Parents build nurturing relationships with their children, champion their children’s health and development, and cultivate a flourishing future for their families. HFA’s relational health approach embodies the four cornerstones of healthy relationships (safety, comfort, predictability, and joy). Once parents experience these in a genuine way and in the context of a relationship with another, they are able to provide the same experience for their children.
Why we developed the Child Welfare Protocols
While HFA works with all families, the program best serves those who are high-risk and overburdened, including those who have been involved in the child welfare system.
Child welfare providers working on the front lines daily recognize the value of connecting families to intensive home visiting services like HFA. Over the years, the National Office has worked with local HFA providers to guide implementation when working with child welfare-referred families.
HFA’s guidance is expressed through our Child Welfare Protocols, which maintain existing model requirements while offering additional guidance related to enrollment, caseload management, and establishing a formal MOU with child welfare to best serve families. Consistent with HFA requirements, support services will be offered for a minimum of three years, regardless of the age of the child at intake. As a model initially designed to support families with children through age five, this allows sites to enroll families referred by child welfare up to age twenty-four months.