October 2024Vol. 25, No. 8A Prevention-Focused, Multisystem Framework to Help Families Meet Their Needs
Many families come to the attention of child welfare because of unmet basic needs, such as economic hardships, food instability, and other poverty-related challenges that weigh on family mental health and well-being. Child welfare and other researchers are increasingly recognizing that prevention efforts to improve child and family safety and well-being should begin with efforts to help families meet their basic needs. A recent report from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago outlines a framework for proactively supporting families and reducing overreliance on child protective services.
Meeting Family Needs: A Multi-System Policy Framework for Child and Family Well-Being begins by acknowledging a design flaw in the current child welfare system: many families who are referred to child protective services have unmet needs, but they never receive services because their report is screened out. In response, the framework proposes developing an "integrated and holistic family and child well-being system" that taps into the full spectrum of family-serving systems and can effectively meet family needs in a culturally responsive manner. To do so, it is essential to increase overlap and collaboration between systems and programs such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, the Child Tax Credit, Medicaid, and title IV-E.
The framework describes core components and strategies for advancing new approaches for supporting families. It directs framework users to first assess foundational conditions of change by evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of the community service array available to meet family needs. From there, users can choose actions that enhance the community service array using the six components of systems change:
- Strategic service expansion
- Eligibility expansion
- Enhance accessibility
- Family-centered practice
- Community-centric delivery
- Narrow child protective response
One way to begin implementing many of the strategies outlined in the framework is with federal funds available through the Family First Prevention Services Act. For example, jurisdictions have used the funding for family resource centers, community response programs, home visiting, and other programs that help families access resources, services, and peer support.
Communities can use the framework in many ways—for example, to strengthen partnerships across systems and with people with lived experience or to create or expand action plans. Or they can use it to engage the child welfare community in existing work from other systems such as the health, human services, and caregiving systems.
Learn more by reading the full report.
