1. Family to Family Initiative Project Proposal
Katrina M. Crandell
Columbia Southern University

2. Executive Summary
The beginning of the nationwide Family to Family was fraught with many challenges. To
even get the ball rolling, class-action lawsuits were filed against child welfare systems in
Alabama, New Mexico, Tennessee, Utah and the cities of Atlanta, Baltimore, Chicago, New
York, Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Washington D.C. In 1980, the federal Adoption Assistance
and Child Welfare Act renewed the push for family reunification by requiring state child welfare
agencies to make judicious efforts to prevent inappropriate placements, reunify families and
support their efforts to stay together, or seek adoptive care.
By 1990, the largest portion of federal and state money for child welfare still went for
congregate and institutional placements (in shelters, hospitals, psychiatric centers, correctional
facilities, residential treatment programs, and group homes) rather than to family reunification
and preservation services, even though two-thirds of children living in out-of-home placements
were in family foster homes. In 1996, Congress successfully argued for passage of the Adoption
and Safe Families Act (ASFA), which reiterated an emphasis on rapid return to the birth family
or permanent placement and made safety a paramount concern. ASFA gives the system six to 12
months to decide whether a child will return to the birth home. If a child has already been in
foster care for 15 of the last 22 months, he or she must be brought to the court’s attention for
possible termination of parental rights. ASFA also banned the dual system of licensure, which
meant that child welfare agencies had to give relative caregivers more training and support.
AECF President Nelson developed was inspired to create the Family to Family Initiative
after working to improve the welfare of children through the office of deputy director of the
Center for the Study of Social Policy, an organization in Washington, DC that studies and
facilitates human service reform. There, Nelson pushed nationally for changes in policies and

3. frontline practices that would make social services more family-centered, community-based, and
culturally responsive.
One of the foundations that supported Nelson’s work was the Annie E. Casey Foundation
(AECF), an operating philanthropy that since 1948 that had worked on behalf of disadvantaged
children. By 1990, AECF’s trustees had decided to move into grant making, where the
organization could work to serve the children, their families and motivate policy changes
nationwide.
The core premise of Family to Family is that the child welfare system’s job is to protect
children from danger, meet their basic physical and emotional needs, and attach or re-attach them
to caring, safe families. To that end, Nelson wanted to keep children in the neighborhood close
to friends and family and also allow the foster families to serve as resources for troubled birth
families, a concept that led directly to the new initiative’s name.
The Family to Family Initiative plans on aiming high when soliciting governmental
support and conducting in-depth assessments of potential sites. “If the governor’s office or the
human services director gets it, you can make the idea work. If they don’t honcho it, you usually
can’t,” a program officer advised. In the beginning, AECF planned to give up to five states $1.5
million each, spread over three years and bolstered by technical assistance, but the leaders had to
buy into the concepts and the level of change required. Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, New
Mexico, Ohio, and Philadelphia were invited to submit brief summaries of the changes they
wanted to make in their systems. Successful applicants would receive $125,000 to support a
nine-month planning process, after which they could apply for the full implementation grant.
Within each site, a team of state leaders in juvenile justice, child welfare, children’s mental
health and human services helped to develop the broad Family to Family plan. Each state also

4. designated a Family to Family coordinator. AECF stipulated that he or she should have easy
access to the child welfare director and should not be a consultant or other person outside the
chain of command.
The four core strategies for each site were: Team Decision Making; the recruitment,
development, and support of resource families; community partnerships; and self-evaluation. As
AECF sought to help local partners deepen and realign the impact of the reforms and evaluate
outcomes these chosen sites received from $75,000 to $300,000 each, spread over three years to
help them put the Family to Family Initiative into action.
However during Phase 4, Family to Family expanded to Arizona and, to a lesser extent,
Washington State and Alaska. New Mexico rejoined the initiative, Alabama exited the Initiative.
Objectives:
It has come to my attention that Alabama wants to revisit the Family to Family Initiative
at a time when Governor Bentley has put together a task force to look at the child welfare system
in Alabama. In Executive Order 11, Bentley has put together a task force to examine the child
welfare system in Alabama.
The Task Force shall analyze the following ways to improve the services of DHR:
1. Methods to strengthen the quality and consistency of screening of reports of child abuse.
2. Family assessments stemming from and adequacy of resources to respond to child abuse
reports.
3. Training of child welfare workers including supervisors.
4. Early intervention and prevention services for children and families at risk of abuse.
5. Transparency of the child protection system.
6. Review of the child protection system focusing on whether the intervention provided is
making a difference in the lives of children.
7. Review of foster care services as an integral part of the child protection system.
8. Methods to increase the utilization of local resources.
(State of Alabama, 2015, para. 4)

5. The following individuals were appointed to the State of Alabama, Alabama Human
Resources Task Force:
 Mac McCutcheon, State Representative, Task Force chair
 Chris England, State Representative
 Lyn Head, District Attorney
 Nancy Buckner, Commissioner, Alabama Department of Human Resources
 Greg Reed, State Senator
 Chris Newlin, Executive Director, National Children’s Advocacy Center
 Adrienne LaBudde, Attorney
 Paul Vincent, Expert, Child Welfare Practice
 Martha Hooper, Foster Parent Advocate, Alabama Foster and Adoptive Parent
Association
 Additional appointments as the Governor deems necessary.
(State of Alabama, 2015, para. 5)
Project Management:
The object of this project proposal is to re-introduce the Family to Family Initiative to the
persons listed above as being a part of the Gubernatorial Task Force. Marrying the two ideas
together at such a critical time would be key in gaining support from the AECF and the Task
Force. I would propose that each member of the Task Force be contacted about how the AECF
and the Family to Family Initiative can help solve the child welfare system in the State of
Alabama. As the deadline is set as of January 15, 2016, by the Governor, it is critical that the
Task Force re-address the Family to Family Initiative before said date.
As a part of my research and to this date, I have not been able to gain access to where the
Family to Family Initiative stands after leaving Phase 4 of the initial roll-out of the Initiative by
AECF. Due to this fact, I would hope that a Family to Family coordinator role be re-established
to help guide the process of becoming a part of the Family to Family Initiative where the State of
Alabama would gain access to grant funds to re-organize the child welfare system and put the
interest of the child first. DHR Commissioner Nancy Buckner said one factor she hopes the task

6. force will look at is the 20 to 25 percent turnover ratio for child welfare workers. That kind of
turnover results in a lack of institutional memory with a largely young staff (Thornton, 2015)
This is a key area of concern but the Family to Family Initiative realizes that there is a large
turnover rate among staff and is there to support staff and give them the resources they need to
excel at their job. Education and training is a key area that the Family to Family Initiative
focuses on.
My role in bringing the Family to Family Initiative back to the State of Alabama would
be to make key contacts with AECF and the above-referenced Task Force members helping to
educate them on the Family to Family Initiative and why this Initiative work well in relation to
the objectives that Governor Bentley has set forth in his Executive Order. As the State is ready to
change the way DHR does things, it critical that a plan that involves the Family to Family
Initiative come into play sometime within the next year.
Deliverables:
At this juncture, the deliverables are somewhat obscure, however, it would seem
plausible that the above-mentioned task force along with the necessary task agencies be tasked
with finding out the status of the Family to Family Initiative so that it might be possible to gain
access to the grant funds in the amounts from $90,000-$300,000 to reform the child welfare
system in Alabama. It would also be a good idea for the Task Force along with necessary State
agencies to re-examine the Birmingham site as the initial site to begin the Family to Family
Initiative within the State of Alabama.
Further, the Task Force is set to have speakers testify before the group on DHR's work
with foster care, senior services and child welfare. The resolution to the problems brought up
during testimony should be evaluated with how the align with the Family to Family Initiative.

7. Proactively gaining support of the Family to Family initiative while the gubernatorial
task force is doing its due diligence is key to resolving all issues set forth on behalf of foster care
and child welfare in the State of Alabama. It would be suggested that the first initial set of
contacts, research into the previous Family to Family Initiative be completed by the said date set
forth by the Governor, this date being January 15, 2016.
Budget:
The Budget could be somewhat obscure at this standpoint, however, funds could be
sought from the AECF and the Alabama Council of Developmental Disabilities (ACDD). The
initial budget for a State moving into the Family to Family Initiative is $75,000-$90,000.
However, a smaller grant could possibly be resourced through the ACDD for the funding of the
position of the Family to Family coordinator and my role as Project Manager.
As the Initiative moves into more deliberate planning stages the old budgets from the first
round of the initiative would be revisited and revised to today’s inflation. The additional grants
and support from the AECF will make it easier to put the Family to Family Initiative in place.
Communication with Sponsor
Communication with Sponsor will occur through email and bi-weekly meetings to see
where the objectives are and also as more knowledge is gained. If anything critical emerges in
between set meeting dates, the Project Manager will immediately contact the Project Sponsor.

8. References
Fiester, Leila (2008). The Story of Family to Family, The Early Years 1992 - 2006, An Initiative
to Improve Child Welfare Systems. The Annie E. Casey Foundation
State of Alabama (2015). Executive Order 11. Retrieved from
http://governor.alabama.gov/newsroom/category/executive-orders/
Thornton, William (2015). Governor's DHR Task Force to look at 'the big picture'. Retrieved
from http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2015/10/governors_dhr_task_force_to_lo.html