Board Member and former Stoneleigh Fellow David Rubin is featured in an article on how the new Family First Prevention Services Act will affect kinship caregivers.
The aim of a new federal law is to reduce the number of children who end up in the troubled foster care system — the biggest reboot of the child welfare system since 1980.
But already, the Family First Prevention Services Act, signed into law by President Donald Trump in February, is generating some controversy. A key point of contention: how it will treat extended family members caring for children outside the foster care system — and whether they will be eligible for financial assistance.
“Sometimes a strict interpretation of the law might have unintended consequences,” said Dr. David Rubin, director of PolicyLab, a research arm of the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia.
Critics of the law, mostly state and local officials in California, say it could end up diverting more children into the care of grandparents and other relatives who won’t be eligible for the same services and financial help as licensed foster parents. Others insist the law helps more “kinship caregivers.”
