30 Days to Family®
Intended Audience
- Child Welfare Workers
- Child Welfare Supervisors
- Social Services Non-child Welfare
- Court Personnel/Legal Professionals
- Caregivers and Potential Caregivers
Targeted Age Group(s)
- 0-9
- 10-12
- 13-17
QIC-EY Engagement Model Components (i) The engagement model components were identified through the QIC-EY Environmental Scan as critical to the support of youth engagement in the attainment of permanence.
- Prioritize Legal, Relational and Cultural Permanence
Description
30 Days to Family® is an intensive, short-term intervention that aims to increase the number of children placed with safe and appropriate relatives within 30 days of their entry into foster care and to ensure that natural and community supports are in place to promote stability for the children. Created by the Foster & Adoptive Care Coalition in St. Louis, Missouri, in 2011, the 30 Days to Family® program operates on the philosophy that all families include members who are willing and able to care for children.
30 Days to Family® services are initiated as soon as a youth (age 0-17) is removed from home and not placed immediately with a relative or kin. The concentrated efforts and low caseloads of 30 Days to Family® are designed to make placement with family possible while supporting the family so that placement stability is maintained. Aspects of the program that set it apart from other interventions include urgency (an intensive, 30-day intervention); low caseloads (serving only two families at one time); expansion of the family tree through the child’s fourth generation (an average of 150 family members identified); contact with every single, adult family member; and the level of support (kinship navigation) provided to the family members. The 30-day timeline is driven by a requirement of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008 to notify all relatives within 30 days of a child entering foster care and by data that demonstrates that children are much better-off when placed with family within 30 days.
30 Days to Family® has been studied and proven to result in an increased number of youths being placed with family, fewer days in foster care, increased placement stability, reduced treatment placements and cost savings. 30 Days to Family® is rated as “Promising Research Evidence” by the California Evidence-Based Clearinghouse for Child Welfare in the topic area of “Permanency Enhancement Interventions for Adolescents.”
Implementation Considerations
A number of child welfare agencies are replicating the 30 Days to Family® model, overseen by The Institute for Child Welfare Innovation. Those agencies interested in replicating the model are guided through a stage-based implementation process. Detailed manuals outline each step of the program replication process (“30 Days to Family® Exploration Guide,” “30 Days to Family® Implementation Guide” and “30 Days to Family® Program Replication Manual”). Although there is no certification, all individuals providing 30 Days to Family® services must be trained and coached by The Institute for Child Welfare Innovation. In addition to the 5-day replication training, which is a hybrid of virtual and in-person training, the Institute provides intensive coaching and technical assistance as well as fidelity monitoring to assure successful implementation of the program. The cost to replicate the program is based on the scale of the replication project. The replication manual and fidelity measures are provided to replication sites as part of their replication fee. The Institute for Child Welfare Innovation provides more than 1,000 hours of support and assistance to help set up a replicating site. Professionals administering the program must have a Bachelor’s degree in social work or a related field and a minimum of 3 years’ experience in the child welfare field.
