The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation contracted with Mathematica to provide the Planning Title IV-E Prevention Services: A Toolkit for States that can help states and their partners plan for the new IV-E Prevention Services Program. The toolkit provides information and resources for states to use as they develop their Title IV-E Prevention Services Plans including strategies state child welfare agencies and their partners may wish to consider for financing prevention services.

The toolkit includes various sections including:

     The Introduction to the Toolkit provides background on the toolkit, including information about parameters of Title IV-E prevention services, definitions of braiding and blending funding, and the stakeholder discussions that informed parts of the toolkit. It also describes how states can use the toolkit.

      The Identifying and Engaging Partners tool reviews opportunities for cross-system collaboration and discusses partners and stakeholders who are likely to be helpful during planning.

      The Assessing Population, Service Needs, and Service Coverage section includes questions and information to consider about the current characteristics of your state’s population, the landscape of services and providers, and insurance coverage and funding.

      The Determining Priorities, Goals, and Actions tool discusses factors to consider in prioritizing planning for prevention services (including those reimbursable as Title IV-E prevention services) to address the needs of families with children at risk of entering foster care.

      The Understanding Roles of Funding and Decision Points tool reviews funding mechanisms and key decision points for relevant services.

      The Developing a Plan for Title IV-E Prevention Services tool reviews how states can translate information from earlier parts of this toolkit into developing a Title IV-E prevention program plan. Part VI also reviews the contents of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) pre-print

The Appendices includes information about parameters for Title IV-E prevention services (Appendix A), comprehensive arrays of SUD and MH services (Appendix B), background on Medicaid (Appendix C) and text from the Title IV-E prevention program five-year plan pre-print (Appendix D).

To access the toolkit, go to https://aspe.hhs.gov/IV-E-prevention-toolkit.