Family First ActAn urgent call to action from the North American Council on Adoptable Children:

Please contact your members of Congress right now to encourage passage of the Family First Prevention Services Act!

Earlier this week, the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee approved the Family First Prevention Services Act and this bipartisan bill will go to a floor vote in the House early next week, and the Sentate companion bill will likely be introduced today.

Members of Congress need to hear right now that they should pass this bill so that the federal government will, among other things:

  • support families to prevent foster care entry
  • ensure children are placed with families (rather than institutions) whenever possible
  • enhance support to relatives caring for their kin
  • support adoptive families whose children are at risk of adoption disruption or dissolution — the bill specifically mentions that adoptive families are eligible for services to prevent foster care entry

Right now, it is particularly important for adoptive and foster parents and others to emphasize that if children have to be placed in group care, that care should be therapeutic and designed to meet their specific needs. In your communication, you should:

  • Ask your Representative and both Senators to support the Family First Prevention Services Act
  • Prioritize children’s need for a family over the needs of group care providers
  • Require group care facilities to have clinical staff on site during working hours

You can find direct phone and email contact information for your two Senators and one Representative at senate.gov and house.gov. Or you can reach each of them by calling the main switchboard at 202-224-3121, then ask for your member of Congress (you’ll have to call back each time to ask for the next member).

A quick link to find your member of the House and send an email is available at the First Focus Action Center. You could adapt the email message to include the items above.

You can also reach your representatives by Twitter or Facebook if you’d prefer. Links to each member’s social media accounts will be accessible through the links you find at senate.gov and house.gov above.

Learn more about the Act.