Examining the Effectiveness of the Families First Prevention Services Act on Black Foster Children’s Outcomes

INTRODUCTION: The Families First Prevention Services Act of 2018 (FFPSA) was passed to allocate additional funding for prevention services (e.g., parenting skill programs) to prevent children from entering foster care and decrease the amount of funding for congregate care placements. The act sought to increase the number of children in family-based placements and lower congregate care placements. When a Black child is placed in non-kinship care, they are more likely than White children to be placed into congregate care placements. Previous research found that placement in these settings resulted in detrimental outcomes, in comparison to placement in kinship care. Despite the act being passed 6 years ago, there has been little research examining the act’s effectiveness in reducing the disproportionate rates of congregate care and increasing kinship care placements for Black children. This study’s objective was to address the gap by examining the proportion of Black children in care, as well as their placement settings.

METHODS: Using a national dataset, the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis Reporting System (AFCARS), this study examined specific variables of interest: “current placement settings,” “entered FC during the FY,” “discharged from FC during the FY,” “discharge reason,” as well as demographic information (e.g., race, gender) for years 2017 and 2024. Descriptive and frequency analyses were run using SPSS. In 2017, participants were 205,037 Black children (Mage = 7.46, SD = 5.87) in 2017, with an average of 729.88 (SD = 819.22) total days in foster care and with 3.04 (SD = 3.79) placements. In 2024, there were 169,869 Black children (Mage = 8.16, SD = 6.11) with an average of 862.03 total days (SD = 876.44) in care and an average of 3.63 placement moves (SD = 5.029) in the current foster care episode.

RESULTS: In 2017, Black children comprised 29.9% of all children in foster care, with 27.9% (n = 57,255) placed with a relative, 12.3% (n = 25,387) in congregate care, and 39.4% (n = 81,041) in non-relative foster care. In comparison, by 2024, Black children represented 32.6% of the total foster care population, with 28.6% (n = 48,566) placed with a relative, 10.7% (n = 18,240) in congregate care, and 37.2% (n = 63,119) in non-relative foster care.

DISCUSSION: Entry into care decreased for Black children, suggesting that the FFPSA act was successful in reducing the number of Black children entering care. However, the overall proportion of Black children relative to other races in foster care increased during this period, suggesting persistent and increasing disproportionality. Notably, despite the FFPSA's emphasis on increasing family-based placements, kinship care rates for Black children remained relatively stable, while congregate care placements marginally decreased. This pattern may indicate that the policy has not substantially improved access to kinship care placements for Black children. Findings support the need for tailored policy and practice development to the specific needs of Black children that can adequately support them in obtaining kinship care placements.