The FAST-LC Capstone Convening was hosted on August 20-21, 2024 in Bethesda, Maryland. This convening brought teams from all the participating sites together to discuss their experiences and learn from one another. The session, Sustaining Your Work to Make a Difference, was presented by keynote speaker Linda Spears. Spears delivered motivating remarks about the sustainability of the FAST-LC work and offered principles and practical considerations for ensuring that site initiatives do not lose momentum and continue beyond the life of federal TA support. Following the presentation, OFA facilitated an audience Q&A.

The FAST-LC Capstone Convening was hosted on August 20-21, 2024 in Bethesda, Maryland. This convening brought teams from all the participating sites together to discuss their experiences and learn from one another. Day one ended with time for attendees to share their insights, closing thoughts, and reflections on their Gallery Walk experience, wherein the FAST-LC participating sites were able to review posters from all the sites describing their initiative, their next steps, and the lessons they learned from participating in the FAST-LC. This session was led by OFA Deputy Director La Sherra Ayala. After this interactive debrief, closing remarks were provided by Deputy Commissioner Cheri Hoffman of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families.

The Office for Family Assistance partnered with Children’s Bureau to develop the Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community (FAST-LC), which focused on preventing family involvement in the child welfare system through developing, implementing, and enhancing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)-Child Welfare partnerships and innovations. FAST-LC was a one-year initiative that involved eight state and two tribal TANF-Child Welfare partnerships. The FAST-LC launched in September 2023 and concluded in September 2024. OFA published the webpage that highlights various resources, including a journey recap for each participating site and research briefs.

The Office of Family Assistance and Children’s Bureau’s initiative, “Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community” (FAST-LC), supported ten TANF and child welfare programs across the country as they worked to promote innovative prevention strategies to mitigate and reduce families’ involvement with the child welfare system through partnerships between TANF and Child Welfare programs. The FAST-LC Site Journeys capture and convey the participating states’ and tribes’ motivation for change, the partnership and prevention innovations they developed and implemented, and the lessons they learned from their journey experiences. This site journey features California’s FAST-LC story.

This brief synthesizes the work the states and tribes participating in the Office for Family Assistance and Children’s Bureau’s joint-initiative “Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community” (FAST-LC) accomplished. It highlights implementation issues and the strategies the participating states and tribes employed in their partnership efforts and their prevention-oriented activities. The brief also identifies sustainability issues the sites confronted and addressed.

In the U.S., 1 in 10 young adults experience homelessness each year, with disproportionate impacts on American Indian and Alaska Native, Black, multiracial, and Hispanic youth and youth who have been involved with the child welfare or juvenile justice systems. Current housing solutions for youth homelessness often lack flexibility or are not readily available, leaving many young adults waiting long periods of time without stable housing. However, the Cash Plus Model offers a promising alternative — pairing direct cash transfers with youth-driven supportive services to empower young adults in securing safe, stable housing. Chapin Hall has developed two briefs: one describing the Cash Plus Model and the second evaluating the Cash Plus Model implementation in New York City and San Francisco.

Traffickers exploit individuals through economic coercion or abuse. Many individuals who experience trafficking are not allowed to decide when or how to earn money, keep their earnings, or control their personal finances. A provision in the Fair Credit Reporting Act serves as an important tool for helping people who have experienced trafficking; the Debt Bondage Repair Act (DBRA) allows for removal of adverse credit information resulting from someone’s trafficking experience. This Office on Trafficking in Persons resource highlights DBRA success stories where individuals in California and Arizona were able to remove adverse credit information that accumulated during their trafficking experience.

On September 27, 2024, the Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) announced their awarding of $4.7 million to help states and tribes develop and refine child support-led employment efforts for noncustodial parents under the Next Generation Child Support Employment (NextGen) grant. OCSS awarded an additional $3.4 million to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services to provide technical assistance and evaluate the NextGen demonstration projects. This OCSS announcement highlights the demonstration grants recipients, including six states and two tribes.

The Child and Family Teaming (CFT) model forms the basis of practice for child welfare services under the Integrated Core Practice Model and California's Continuum of Care Reform. This guide was developed by the California Department of Social Services in collaboration with California Tribal Families Coalition and begins with an overview of Indian Child Welfare Act’s requirements for the CFT. It then moves on to best practices in partnering with Tribes, including learning about the Tribe and understanding differing perspectives. The guide continues with highlighting best practices for including children and engaging all team members in the CFT, provides guidance in making CFT meetings accessible and culturally responsive, and gives tips to practitioners in their ongoing communication with the team between meetings.