Development of federal requirements for prevention candidates and placement prevention services

Department of Children, Youth, and Family (department) staff are implementing policy changes to meet federal requirements of the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA). This allows for Title IV-E reimbursement for eligible candidates receiving approved prevention services. Department staff collaborated with county agencies, Tribal partners, private and nonprofit agencies, community members, individuals with lived experience, and elected officials to develop and implement a five-year prevention services plan that improves outcomes for Minnesota’s most vulnerable children and families.

Research indicates that children thrive best in family environments. To reflect this, comprehensive changes are being made to child welfare practices. The emphasis is on improving support for families in crisis, increasing access to mental health and substance use services, finding new ways to engage extended family in caregiving, and focusing on residential placements for youth needing intensive support. These initiatives aim to help more children thrive.

Minnesota’s Title IV-E Five-year Prevention Plan was submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Children’s Bureau, on Sept. 30, 2022, for review and approval. Final federal approval was received on Jan. 5, 2023. Review the final plan.

Minnesota’s Title IV-E Five-year Prevention Plan was developed by the Prevention Services Work Group and topic-specific work groups. Tribal engagement was also key to development of the plan.

Bulletins and publications

Prevention candidacy work groups

The Family First Prevention Services Act’s objective is to provide upfront, prevention services to children at imminent risk of placement in foster care, expectant or parenting youth in foster care, and parents or kin caregivers of eligible children. Under FFPSA, these children are prevention services candidates. To meet FFPSA implementation requirements, each candidate requires an eligibility process, a prevention services case plan, a safety and risk assessment process, and a recertification process for prevention services that continue beyond the 12-month limit.

In-home child protection and placement prevention case plans

To meet FFPSA requirements, candidates are required to have a placement prevention services plan integrated into their case plan. A work group developed a new family support plan (case plan) for child protection services when children remain in their home with their parent or caregivers. View the in-home case plan.

Pregnant or parenting youth in foster care

Youth in foster care who are expectant or parenting their child/ren may require additional services to support their and their child/ren’s health and well-being. These youth will be eligible for prevention services under the FFPSA.

Prevention Services

Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Parents as Teachers (PAT) were selected as initial services on Minnesota’s prevention plan and are the current prevention services for Minnesota under FFPSA.

Motivational Interviewing (MI)

This service falls into the well-supported rating category as determined by the FFPSA Clearinghouse as a crosscutting service. MI is a client engagement strategy that increases intrinsic motivation, promoting behavior change in clients with ambivalence about change. MI is recommended as a tool for caseworker training, used across cases, as appropriate.

Parents as Teachers (PAT)

This service falls into the well-supported rating category as determined by the FFPSA Clearinghouse; it is an in-home parenting skills-based program. PAT is designed for families with children ages 5 and under who have special needs, are at risk for child abuse, face financial challenges, are teen or first-time parents, or are dealing with mental health or substance use issues. Families can enroll during the prenatal period up until their children are ready to start kindergarten.

For guidance on how Parents as Teachers can be used as an FFPSA prevention service and agencies can claim Title IV-E reimbursement.

Fidelity monitoring

Monitoring fidelity and continuous quality improvement are requirements under Minnesota’s Title IV-E Five-year FFPSA Prevention Plan. Fidelity monitoring involves assessing and analyzing how effectively a program or curriculum is implemented according to its design.

Lyssn

To claim FFPSA Title IV-E reimbursement for Motivational Interviewing (MI), family preservation workers will be required to participate in ongoing fidelity monitoring. Fidelity monitoring will provide both workers and supervisors support as they implement MI.

Lyssn is the fidelity monitoring tool for MI. Lyssn is an artificial intelligence (AI) data analysis software tool. Quarterly, workers are asked to interact with the Lyssn platform at least once where they upload two 10-15 minute live case consultations including themselves and another worker or supervisor. A live case consultation is essentially a role play scenario where you replicate an actual client and caseworker persona without including actual client information in the recording. Through immediate feedback, Lyssn’s AI platform will give workers the chance to practice their MI skills and receive guidance on how to improve. Workers may not record family interactions to upload them to Lyssn. The department is covering the costs of Lyssn for agencies.

EHQ Landing Page: FFPSA Fidelity Monitoring of Motivational Interviewing

FFPSA Fidelity Monitoring of Motivational Interviewing | Minnesota Engage DCYF

This landing page is designed to guide you on how to conduct fidelity monitoring for MI. Here you will find all the necessary information and resources to get you started on your fidelity monitoring journey.

Claiming

Efforts are underway to establish claiming Title IV-E for FFPSA prevention services for both administrative and service claiming. The approval of the state’s prevention plan allows the department to claim prevention services Title IV-E for the costs of the services. The department has been taking necessary steps to begin claiming for services. These efforts are outlined in an FFPSA status update. The department is pleased to announce the beginning of claiming for services, Motivational Interviewing (MI) and Parents as Teachers (PAT), in October 2024.

SSIS and prevention services Title IV-E services claiming

The Social Service Information System (SSIS) has been updated to allow worker documentation of prevention services to support claiming. The SSIS worker screens include prevention services candidacy eligibility, In-home Family Support Plan for Prevention Services, new BRASS codes and necessary data entry in SSIS Administration.

The Title IV-E Prevention Services Claiming Policy helps guide county and Initiative Tribes on how to claim for FFPSA prevention services. This guide provides a background on FFPSA prevention services, eligibility determination, how to enter a claim and receive reimbursement for prevention services.

Motivational Interviewing (MI) rates for counties has been published to the Fiscal PartnerLink page and can be found here: Training home page.doc. Initiative Tribes received memos with their MI rates.

As workers complete Motivational Interviewing (MI) Training and become certified a checklist will be sent to them with next steps. If a worker will be working with prevention services candidates and claiming for MI, they must complete Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) Motivational Interviewing (MI) Claiming Training prior to entering claims into SSIS. After the claiming training is completed, workers must complete this attestation form. SSIS TRAINING FOR CLAIMING MOTIVATIONAL INTERVIEWING ATTESTATION.

SSIS Claiming Training Powerpoint (PDF)

Prevention Services State Report

The SSIS Statewide Release v25.2 on May 21, 2025, included the Prevention Services State Report (PSSR). This report is used by agencies to submit their Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) Prevention Services Title IV-E Claims to the state for reimbursement. The data from this report will be used by the Financial Operations Division (FOD) for required federal data submissions on FFPSA. The Prevention Services State Report – May 2025 job aid found here can assist fiscal workers with questions while working on the new state report.

On June 10, 2025 the Department of Children Youth and Families hosted a webinar to review the PSSR report and how to submit it to the state. This training is intended for staff responsible for generating the report, working on errors, finalizing, and submitting the report to the state. All counties and Initiative Tribes will be required to submit the report even if they are not claiming on Title IV-E prevention services at this time. Each agency must have one staff attend the training or watch the recorded training prior to submitting the PSSR. The training is available on demand here: FFPSA Prevention Services State Report Training 6-10-2025.

Future services

The FFPSA prevention workgroup identified key tasks and stakeholders essential for analyzing and prioritizing which services to incorporate into Minnesota’s upcoming five-year prevention plan. A process map and timeline were created to provide a structured approach for evaluating evidence-based practices to be included in Minnesota’s FFPSA prevention service offerings.

Family First Prevention Services Act: Future Services (PDF)

FFPSA allocation

In January 2024, a new allocation began to support efforts related to the development and/or expansion of prevention services related to the implementation of FFPSA. Funds were allocated to counties and federally recognized Tribes in Minnesota to provide prevention and early intervention services. [Minnesota Statutes 260.014.]

Funds are intended for children who remain with their families, or upon return to their families, including:

Prevention of entry into the child welfare system
Prevention of further involvement with the child welfare system
Family preservation (supports necessary to maintain children within their families).

This allocation can be used to invest in services that will be IV-E claimable in the future. More information about the FFPSA Allocation can be obtained by clicking the links below:

Questions

Contact dhs.csp.safety@state.mn.us for questions related to FFPSA prevention services.

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