Children and Family Futures

Children and Family Futures Children and Family Futures operates a wholly owned small business entity, the Center for Children and Family Futures.

Children and Family Futures strives to prevent child abuse and neglect while improving safety, permanency, well-being, and recovery outcomes for all children, parents and families affected by trauma, substance use and mental health disorders. WHO WE ARE:

Children and Family Futures is a nonprofit organization celebrating 25 years with a national impact providing consultation, training and technic

al assistance, strategic planning, and evaluation services focused on improving practice and policy at the intersections of child welfare, substance use and mental disorder treatment, and court systems. Our decades of experience are focused on practice, policy, and evaluation that supports Tribes, states, regions, and communities to improve outcomes for children, their parents, extended families, and communities. Children and Family Futures delivers award-winning services for its funders and customers on behalf of the children and families whose lives we seek to improve. Responding to over 11,000 training and technical assistance requests in over 450 sites and conducting program evaluations and performance management with more than 100 sites has enabled us to develop planning and implementation methods that ensure the effectiveness of our services.

Most states and tribes serving kinship families aren't operating a Title IV-E Kinship Navigator Program (KNP), not becau...
06/11/2026

Most states and tribes serving kinship families aren't operating a Title IV-E Kinship Navigator Program (KNP), not because the need isn't there, but because qualifying requires evidence most programs haven't had the funding or infrastructure to build.

A federal funding opportunity is on the horizon specifically for states and tribes not yet operating a Title IV-E KNP, designed to help programs build the rigorous evidence base required for Clearinghouse review and unlock ongoing federal reimbursement.

The programs that use this window well won't just win a grant. They can effectively secure sustainable federal funding on the other side of it.

Already running a Kinship Navigator Program? CFF's Research and Evaluation team partners with states and tribes on the evaluation piece.

👉Reach out before the NOFO drops: https://airtable.com/appt7JA9HCGhKfjPw/pag7cXcGYbaEFMPQh/form?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=knp-nofo-2026&utm_content=ret-nofo1

What happens to a reunification program that can't show it's working?June is National Reunification Month, and reunifica...
06/11/2026

What happens to a reunification program that can't show it's working?

June is National Reunification Month, and reunification isn't just a practice goal. It's a funding argument. Children and Family Futures' Research and Evaluation team has worked with 70 sites across 28 states to build the evaluation infrastructure that connects programs to the investment they need.

Ready to build the evidence base your program needs? Schedule a call with our team: https://airtable.com/appt7JA9HCGhKfjPw/pag7cXcGYbaEFMPQh/form?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=reunification-month-2026&utm_content=ret-70sites

Most Family Treatment Courts (FTC) have a judge, a caseworker, and a treatment provider. Fewer have a clear answer to: w...
06/10/2026

Most Family Treatment Courts (FTC) have a judge, a caseworker, and a treatment provider. Fewer have a clear answer to: who does what, when, and what happens when it doesn't get done?

June is National Reunification Month. Whether your community is exploring the need for an FTC or working to strengthen an existing one, the goal is the same: supporting families on the path to reunification.

The FTCs that coordinate well have three things in common:
• A shared referral process that all partners follow
• Defined roles that are documented and don't walk out the door when staff turns over
• Data that tells the team whether the model is working before the next funding review

Children and Family Futures (CFF) supports communities at every stage—from planning and launching new FTCs to strengthening coordination in existing ones. If your team is asking how to build or improve your approach, that’s the gap CFF helps close.

CFF has built this infrastructure with FTC programs across 39 states: https://www.cffutures.org/ftc-landing/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=reunification-month-2026&utm_content=ftc-3things

What does it look like when a state shows up for families? Last month, members of the START TTA team traveled across Nor...
06/09/2026

What does it look like when a state shows up for families?

Last month, members of the START TTA team traveled across North Carolina, from the eastern counties to the mountains, delivering trainings, strengthening teams, and connecting with the incredible people doing this work every day.

While we covered a lot of ground, we had so much fun we forgot to stop for photos in every county!

To every START team member and community partner who welcomed us: you reminded us exactly why this work matters.

Whether you're in North Carolina or somewhere else out there, tell us one thing you've seen, in your work or community, that reminds you why supporting families matters. Share it in the comments.

When parental substance use enters a child welfare case, the clock starts moving fast, often faster than families can ac...
06/09/2026

When parental substance use enters a child welfare case, the clock starts moving fast, often faster than families can access support.

The result is a pattern most systems recognize: earlier removals, fewer reunification resources, and recovery services that arrive too late to matter.

June is National Reunification Month. START is built to interrupt that pattern by responding earlier, working across systems, and centering recovery before a case ever reaches a courtroom.

Jurisdictions implementing START have seen 50% fewer children entering out-of-home placement. Every $1 invested saves $2.22 in avoided foster care costs.

If your jurisdiction is reexamining how it responds to parental substance use, this is worth a look: https://www.cffutures.org/start-landing/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=reunification-month-2026&utm_content=start-removalpattern

🧠 Feeling overwhelmed by information overload? If you are looking for ready-to-use resources you can immediately apply t...
06/08/2026

🧠 Feeling overwhelmed by information overload? If you are looking for ready-to-use resources you can immediately apply to your work without spending hours digging through data, this is for you.

Spend just 30 minutes exploring a highly practical resource designed to help systems work together more effectively for families: Lessons from the Regional Partnership Grants Program: What Works for Families.

🔄 The Challenge of Cross-System Collaboration
Families affected by substance use often have to navigate multiple systems simultaneously. Each system comes with its own priorities, timelines, and expectations—making effective collaboration incredibly challenging.

🛠️ What You’ll Learn
This session introduces a National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW) brief that summarizes 20 years of Regional Partnership Grants (RPG) Program experience.

Instead of an intensive, theoretical training, this is a fast-paced, guided overview of a tool you can use and share with your colleagues immediately. Learn how to apply key strategies directly to your work, including:

🎯 Shared Goals: Aligning priorities across different agencies.
🤝 Formal Structures: Building reliable frameworks for partnership.
đź’Ľ Integrated Services: Streamlining support for families.
đź“Š Data-Informed Decision-Making: Using evidence to drive better outcomes.

đź“… Join the Session
Don’t miss this opportunity to add a powerful, actionable resource to your toolkit and strengthen your cross-system collaboration. Register now at: https://cffutures-net.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_p6E_aMx-QWyIYt1ROPaJbQ?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=engagement&utm_content=ncsacw-rpgwebinar1

The National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW) will be at the APHSA National Human Services Summit th...
06/08/2026

The National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW) will be at the APHSA National Human Services Summit this month. Come find us at the booth or catch one of our sessions.

June 13 - June 17 | Arlington, VA
Strengthening Skills for Child Welfare Caseworkers and Supervisors: Working with Families Affected by Parental Substance Use

👉 Can't make it this year? Explore our topics page: https://ncsacw.acf.gov/topics/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=engagement&utm_content=ncsacw-aphsa2026 and if you're looking for something specific, we're always here to help: [email protected]

🏥 Are You Familiar with NCSACW’s 5 Points of Family Intervention?Improving outcomes for infants with prenatal substance ...
06/05/2026

🏥 Are You Familiar with NCSACW’s 5 Points of Family Intervention?

Improving outcomes for infants with prenatal substance exposure requires looking beyond the individual and addressing the family system in which they develop, grow, and thrive. By intervening at key stages, agencies can prevent exposure, support recovery, and ensure children remain in safe, stable environments.

The National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare’s "Infants with Prenatal Substance Exposure and their Families: Five Points of Family Intervention" is a framework designed to help collaborative teams identify critical opportunities to support families from pre-pregnancy through adolescence.

🌟How does this resource help you improve programs and practices?
• Understand the "Five Points" framework and how each stage offers a unique window for intervention.
• Apply evidence-based policy and practice strategies
• Learn how to strengthen cross-system collaboration between child welfare, healthcare, and treatment providers to ensure a seamless continuum of care for the entire family.

🎯 The Goal: To learn more about how to ensure that families receive the right support at the right time, download https://ncsacw.acf.gov/files/five-points-family-intervention.pdf?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=practical-tools&utm_content=ncsacw-5pointsjun2026

Knowing families are reunifying and being able to show it are two different things.A family treatment court program in t...
06/04/2026

Knowing families are reunifying and being able to show it are two different things.

A family treatment court program in the Atlantic Northeast provides services to families every week. The staff see positive outcomes: parents in recovery, children staying home, reunification happening. But when it's time to renew funding, these successes aren’t fully captured. The data exists, but it hasn’t been analyzed to clearly show impact. That's exactly what CFF's Research and Evaluation team did for this program, and what we can do for yours.

National Reunification Month puts reunification at the center. The CFF Research and Evaluation team closes the gap between evidence and impact, working alongside programs to turn existing data into funder-ready outcomes reporting, and the sustainability narrative programs need to secure continued investment.

Find out whether your program can demonstrate its reunification outcomes. Schedule a call with our team: https://airtable.com/appt7JA9HCGhKfjPw/pag7cXcGYbaEFMPQh/form?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=reunification-month-2026&utm_content=ftc-mythparentsonly

START isn’t a court program. It isn’t treatment. And it isn’t child welfare as usual. START is a collaborative model tha...
06/03/2026

START isn’t a court program.
It isn’t treatment.
And it isn’t child welfare as usual.

START is a collaborative model that pairs a child welfare worker with a family mentor who brings lived experience with recovery and child welfare. Together, they support families affected by substance use early, before removal becomes the default response.

June is National Reunification Month. The best reunification story is the one that starts before a removal decision is ever made.

What does early intervention look like in your jurisdiction?

Children and Family Futures supports agencies and systems implementing the START model across the country. See how it works in practice: https://www.cffutures.org/start/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=reunification-month-2026&utm_content=start-mythbuster

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3200 El Camino Real, Unit 170
Irvine, CA
92602

Telephone

+17145053525

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