What is the Family First Preventive Services Act?
The objective of FFPSA is to enhance support services to families to help children and youth remain at home and reduce the use of congregate care placements by increasing options for prevention services, increased oversight, and requirements for placements, and enhancing the requirements for congregate care placement.
But, (FFPSA) has dramatically increased the cost of raising the 861 children in LCCS care. These charges are called “placement costs," and include payments to foster homes, group homes and hospital-type settings.
Other FFPSA Requirements
- Private agencies can use only services that are rated as promising, supported, or well-supported by the FFPSA Clearinghouse. Currently, there are only five programs/methodologies in Ohio that meet those criteria.
- Many agencies have incurred significant upfront investments in training and infrastructure. This has also led to a service “vacuum” in the state which means that the providers of these qualifying services are able to charge much more per unit today, compared to prior to the FFPSA.
Ohio adopted the FFPSA in October 2021, and placed additional, but worthy, burdens on the private agencies that provide residential care. In the five years before this law went into effect, LCCS averaged a little over $12 million per year in placement costs. That increased to $15.3 million in 2022, $19.4 million in 2023, Those placements will cost LCCS $21.5 million in 2024, up 77 percent from just three years ago.