Family First Prevention Services (FFPS) and Comprehensive Prevention Plan (CPP) Resources
Key Resources
- Approved County Comprehensive Prevention Plans – Summaries and full text of all approved Comprehensive Prevention Plans for California Counties.
- California Comprehensive Prevention Plan Map (CFPIC) – This map provides information about County and Title IV-E Tribes’ Comprehensive Prevention Plans. Use the interactive options to get a statewide look at regions, EBPs, and Community Pathway use.
- California’s 5-Year State Prevention Plan
- CDSS Family First Prevention Services (FFPS) Program website
- CFPIC FFPS and Prevention Resources Website
- Family First Prevention Services (FFPSA Part I) – Frequently Asked Questions (CDSS)
- Prevention Planning Acronyms and Key Terms
- CDSS Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) Overview website
- Questions/Requests for assistance – Prevention Services Mailbox: ffpsapreventionservices@dss.ca.gov
- Questions related to FFPSA Part I, Comprehensive Prevention Planning, technical assistance, connecting with a county prevention planning team, etc.
Training Information
- ACL 25-73 Training Guidance and Statewide Curriculum for the Family First Prevention Services Workforce: California’s Family First Prevention Services Learning Series Tier One
- ACIN 43-25 Account Access To The California Child Welfare Training Learning Management System
Evidence-Based Practices (EBP) Information
- FFPS Guidance on EBPs (CFPIC)
- EBPs for inclusion can be found in California’s Five-Year State Prevention Plan (Appendix A, p. 51)
- Review of Well-Supported Programs on the Title IV-E Prevention Series Clearinghouse (CalTrin)
- CalTrin trainings on evidence-based practices: Browse recordings, presentation slides, and related materials.
- Family First Evidence-Based Practices Exploration and Cost Tool (Chapin Hall)
- Evidence-Based Programs Desk Guide (Chapin Hall): Simplify matching youth and families to the right supports with this tool, which covers 17 programs rated as well-supported by the federal Title IV-E Clearinghouse, including two culturally specific programs. 2-minute overview video
- Motivational Interviewing
- MI Training Fact Sheet
- MI Training Plan v1
- The Potential of Motivational Interviewing: Implementing a Practice that Shifts the Center of Gravity in Child Welfare (Chapin Hall)
- Introduction to Motivational Interviewing (Recording and Resources)(CalTrin)
- Motivational Interviewing Fidelity in Child Welfare: Real-World Strategies to Improve Outcomes
- FFPSA Interventions for Families of Color (Casey Family Programs)
- Elevating Culturally Specific Evidence-Based Practice (Chapin Hall)
- Adaptation
Data/CQI/Fidelity
- California Family First Prevention Services Continuous Quality Improvement Plan
- CA Family First Prevention Services CQI Implementation Plan
- CQI Data Briefs for each EBP
- Data Playbook for Prevention Action Planning (Safe & Sound) – Guide for prevention planning teams to source, select, gather, analyze, and share data and stories to engage communities and key stakeholders in this important process to strengthen families.
- Family First Toolkit Part 3: Evaluating & Improving Quality (Chapin Hall)
Funding & Sustainability
- FFPS Guidance on Fiscal & Funding (CFPIC)
- Comprehensive Prevention Funding Guide (CDSS)
- CPP Local Spending Plan Template (.xls) (CDSS)
- ACL 25-12/BHIN 25-018: Payer of Last Resort
- ACL 24-90: Flexibilities for Small Counties Opting Into the FFPS Program and Use of FFTA Funds
- ACL 23-41 (May 26, 2023) Family First Prevention Services Act, Family First Transition Act, Transition Grant And Certainty Grants, Annual Reporting Instructions, Fiscal Year 2021-2022
- Prevention & Early Intervention Subcommittee: Financing Recommendations to Build and Sustain Community Pathways
- California Prevention Services Funding Chart: 2022 CA Prevention Services Funding Streams – Recent Funding (CDSS)
- Family First Prevention Services (FFPS) Program
- CFL 21-/22-84 (March 11, 2022) – FY21-22 Family First Prevention Services Program General Fund allocation
- CFL 21-22-110 (June 1, 2022) – Claiming Instructions For The County Opt-In Family First Prevention Services (FFPS) Program
- Family First Transition Act (FFTA) Guidance (overview and reporting requirements)
- ACL 21-47 FFTA Transition Grant and Funding Certainty Grant for FFPSA
- ACL 21-155 – Instructions for data that must be reported to the State for inclusion in the Annual Progress and Services Report (APSR) required by the federal government, as well as the data required by CDSS for FFPSA strategic planning
- State Block Grant
- CFL 21/22-109 – Redistribution and finalization of the Family First Transition Act (FFTA) Grant Allocation
- Questions regarding FFTA allocations – fiscal.systems@dss.ca.gov
- FFTA Claiming Claiming CFL 20/21-91
- Family First Transition Act (FFTA) Grant Claiming Update CFL 25-26-03 (August 11, 2025)
- CBCAP Allocations
- Alphabet Soup: A Simple Serving of Complex Concepts in Child Welfare (FMAP Explainer) (The Imprint: Youth & Family News)
- Maintenance of Effort (Bucket Slide from 6/29 Learning Forum)
- Transforming Child Welfare Services and Supports through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA)
- The California Children’s Trust Initiative: Financing New Approaches to Achieve Child Well-Being
- Fiscal Mapping for Early Childhood Services: Data Collection Tool (Center for Healthcare Strategies)
- Webinar Replay: Funding Our Kids: Understanding the Federal Government’s Investments in Children and Youth (Children’s Funding Project) Learn about fiscal mapping, sources of federal social infrastructure funds, and the Children’s Funding Project’s Federal Funding Database.
Community Engagement and Lived Expertise
- AB2083 (System of Care)
- ILT (System of Care) Inquiry (1-page guide)(Comprehensive Prevention Planning Learning Series)
- Ventura County Child, Youth, and Family Wellness System Vision Brief
- Ventura County Quilt
- Ventura County Child and Family Well Being System MOU
- Community Engagement Toolkit (Collective Impact Forum)
- Constituent Voice Assessment Toolkit & Best Practices (Family Voices United)
- Family Voices United Resources (Searchable lived expertise database)
- LEx (Lived Expertise) Leader Service Members Compensation & Support Guidelines (FosterClub)
- Generations United Community Building
- How can organizations assess their readiness to co-design? (Casey Family Programs) (This brief provides an overview of what it means to engage in co-design, and offers key considerations to authentically engage people with lived experience.)
- Centering Equity in Collective Impact, Stanford Social Innovation Review (Winter 2022)
- CalTrin Blog: Resources to Support Racial Equity in Family-Serving Systems
- Connecting with Families in Black and Indigenous Communities (Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network): outlines questions to consider when working with Black and Indigenous families.
Tribal Engagement and Collaboration
- ACYF-CB-PI-18-10 Tribal Title IV-E Agency Requirements for Electing Title IV-E Prevention and Family Services and Programs
- Designated Tribal Agents for Notice in ICWA Cases (ICWA)
- Statewide Directory of Services for Native American Families (California Courts): Contains contact information on services to assist Indian children and families. Search by county, service type, or both.
Growing and Sustaining Partnerships within Your Cross-Sector Team
- AB2083 (System of Care)
- ILT (System of Care) Inquiry (1-page guide)(Comprehensive Prevention Planning Learning Series)
- Ventura County Child, Youth, and Family Wellness System Vision Brief
- Ventura County Quilt
- Ventura County Child and Family Well Being System MOU
- Family First Toolkit part 2: Implementation & Change Management (Chapin Hall)
- Indiana’s Framework for the Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect: Community Implementation Toolkit
- Center for States – Visioning for Prevention: Vision Tracking Matrix to support stronger collaboration and improve the coordination of resources
Comprehensive Prevention Plan Development Resources
- ACL 22-23 (March 10, 2022) – Family First Prevention Services Program Opt-In Process, State FFPS Program Block Grant Allocation Methodology And Allowable Activities
- ACL 23-23 (February 23, 2023)
- ACIN I-73-21 (September 8, 2021) – Family First Prevention Services Act Implementation In California
- Comprehensive Prevention Plan Development Tools and Resources
- FamilyFirstAct.org This website is a national collaborative partnership that provides a searchable database of FFPS-related information, resources, and examples
- AB 153
CalAIM
- Informational Fact Sheet (CCJBH)
- CalAIM 101 Overview webinar recording and presentation slides (CCJBH)
- Medi-Cal Enhanced Care Management (ECM) Referral Process for Criminal Justice Partners
- Medi-Cal Managed Care Plan Enhanced Care Management Referral Process by County
- Enhanced Care Management (ECM) and Community Supports (CS) Referral Pathways website (CDSS/DHCS)
Community Supporting
- Shifting from Mandated Reporting to Community Supporting (OCAP/CAP Center 2023 Child Abuse Prevention Month Webinar Series, April 2023)
- Mandated Reporting to Community Supporting Task Force
- ACL 23-105 Guidance to county child welfare services agencies and probation departments on changes that became effective on January 1, 2023.AB 2085 amended the Penal Code to specify that “general neglect” does not include a parent’s economic disadvantage and that a child must be “at substantial risk of suffering serious physical harm or illness” to fall within the definition of ‘general neglect.’ SB 1085 amended the Welfare and Institutions Code to prohibit a child from being found within the jurisdiction of the juvenile court solely based on indigence or other conditions of financial difficulty.
- California’s Child Welfare System: Addressing Disproportionality and Disparities (CA LAO April 2024)
- Nobody Wins: Educators’ Perspectives on Mandatory Reporting (AFT 2025)
Community Pathways
- Community Pathway Framework Brief
- Child Welfare Council Prevention and Early Intervention: Community Pathway Recommendations
- Prevention & Early Intervention Subcommittee: Financing Recommendations to Build and Sustain Community Pathways
- How are States Building Community-Based Pathways to Prevention Services through Family First (Casey Family Programs, Sept. 2022)
- Prevention and Early Intervention Committee Community Pathway Recommendations and slides from the March 1, 2023 California Child Welfare Council meeting. You can also explore information about planning and implementation for pathway initiatives in Humboldt, Los Angeles, and San Diego Counties that structurally support family strengthening and families’ connection to prevention services.Guidance on Community Pathways from the Children’s Bureau; This memo from Chapin Hall and Public Consulting Group highlights key takeaways from the federal guidance on providing Family First Prevention Services to children who are served by community organizations but not involved with child welfare. This resource can also be found in Chapin Hall’s Family First Toolkit, which is divided into three sections: planning and readiness, implementation and change management, and evaluating and improving quality.
Implementation
- Home Visiting in the Family First Context (Chapin Hall and Start Early): provides recommendations to strengthen collaboration between home visiting and child welfare at the federal, state, and local levels.
- Bulletin: Child Welfare Practice to Address Racial Disproportionality and Disparity (Children’s Bureau): Brief overview of racial disproportionality and disparity in the child welfare system and contributing factors. It describes practices that child welfare caseworkers, administrators, program managers, and policymakers can implement to address these issues in general and at specific decision-making points along the child welfare continuum.
Integrated Core Practice Model
Prevention Continuum (Primary/Secondary/Tertiary) and Primary Prevention Resources & Strategies
- OCAP Framework for Prevention
- Defining the Five Protective Factors Infographic (CTF Alliance) (English & Spanish versions)
- CDC: Social Determinants of Health
- CSSP Strengthening Families
- CalTrin Blog: Understanding and Integrating the Protective Factors Framework into Everyday Practice – Overview of the Protective Factors and resources available to better understand and integrate this framework into everyday practice.
- Center for States: Visioning for Prevention: Protecting Children Through Strengthening Families
- A Key Connection: Economic Stability and Family Well-being (Chapin Hall)
- Economic and Concrete Supports Services Manual (PCG): This manual guides an organization through the development and implementation of Economic and Concrete Support Services for families.
- Casey Family Programs: Can reductions in child poverty impact involvement with child protective services? This journal article summary outlines study findings that elevate the importance of providing families living in poverty with economic and community-based supports as a better alternative to child welfare system involvement.
- Economic and Concrete Supports “Evidence to Impact” Policy Tool: Easy-to-follow overview of peer-reviewed research related to reducing risk for child maltreatment and child welfare involvement aligned with policy options that jurisdictions can leverage to increase access and impact of economic and concrete supports.
- CalTrin Self-Paced Course: Exploring a Prevention Mindset: This course provides a foundation for moving toward a prevention mindset, including a review of the benefits of a prevention mindset, how your work fits in the CDSS prevention framework, and tools and resources.
- Reimagining Wellbeing: Local Policy Strategies to Prevent and Reduce Adverse Childhood Experiences in California’s Communities (All Children Thrive – California (ACT) and the California Essentials for Childhood (EfC) Initiative): A resource for ACT-Funded Projects, ACEs and child maltreatment prevention advocates, and local coalition facilitators who are working to support communities as they educate about the need to adopt and implement evidence-based and evidence-informed local policy strategies that improve the lives of California’s children and families.
Mental Health Coordination and Consultation