Keeping Families Together Act Background and Changes

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This legislation sought to reduce children in foster care. Placement in foster care was already on a downward trend prior to the implementation of the Keeping Families Together Act.

Removing a child from a family is traumatic. The Keeping Families Together Act required that the harm of removal be considered in decisions to place a child in out of home care. 

Sponsors of the legislation sought to establish a standardized threshold that aligned with the Indian Child Welfare Act. However, DCYF policy lists broader harm criteria for this population of children than the Keeping Families Together Act allows for.