Federal legislation provides funding for State grants to provide services that will prevent the unnecessary separation of children from their families, improve their quality of care, and ensure permanency for children by reuniting them with their parents, through adoption, or via another permanent living arrangement. Federal programs related to family support include the Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) program, the Family Preservation and Family Support Services Act of 1993, the Promoting Safe and Stable Families provisions of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997, and the Safe and Stable Families Amendments of 2001.
The following resources provide a broad overview of policies addressing family support services and program approaches to providing such services to families.
Building Comprehensive State Systems for Vulnerable Babies: A Resource for State Leaders (PDF - 250 KB)
Center for Law and Social Policy (2011)
Provides a tool that helps State leaders strategize and create or improve early childhood systems to meet the needs of vulnerable babies and toddlers, their families, and pregnant women.
Economic Opportunity
Annie E. Casey Foundation
Offers information to practitioners, researchers, policymakers, and the general public on CFES' three-pronged approach to alleviating poverty, which incorporates strategies for workforce development, family economic support, and community investment.
Supporting Evidence-Based Home Visiting
FRIENDS National Resource Center for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention
Describes the efforts of 17 federally funded grantees implementing evidence-based home visiting programs in their communities. The website includes information on home visiting models, cross-site evaluation results, and more.
Supporting Healthy Marriage Toolkit: Resources for Program Operators From the Supporting Healthy Marriage Demonstration and Evaluation (PDF - 2,427 KB)
MDRC (2011)
Offers professionals a resource guide to developing and implementing community-based programs that provide relationship education to married parents.
ZERO TO THREE Home Visiting Community Planning Tool (PDF - 286 KB)
ZERO TO THREE (2016)
Guides communities through the process of creating new or expanding existing home visiting services. The tool helps communities use data to identify strengths, needs, and gaps in current home visiting services; choose an evidence-based program model; and align local level work with State efforts.