Chapin Hall

The Issue

To comply with federal reporting requirements under the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA), Title IV-E agencies must track whether children who receive prevention services later enter foster care. This requires assigning and maintaining a unique identifier for each child. While children involved with the formal child welfare system are automatically issued identifiers, families receiving services through community pathways, which are voluntary, upstream services offered outside formal child protection, present a distinct challenge. 

Assigning unique identifiers in these contexts raises significant data governance, technical, and operational hurdles. States must collect child-level data while protecting family privacy and respecting the voluntary nature of these services. Traditional oversight is intentionally limited in community-based models to foster family engagement and trust. 

States must reconcile two critical needs: meeting federal accountability mandates while preserving the decentralized, privacy-centered design of community pathway interventions. 

The Evidence

This brief examines how Connecticut and Indiana have developed successful methods for claiming Title IV-E reimbursement for prevention services delivered through community pathways. Both states link unique identifiers from community-based systems to their child welfare databases to meet federal requirements while protecting family privacy. 

Connecticut integrates its community data system with its child welfare database using MultiVue, a master data management tool. This allows providers to track service histories without sharing personally identifiable information with child welfare staff. 

Indiana uses a “bridge table” to connect records between Healthy Families Indiana providers and the state’s child welfare system. Staff manually assign or link children’s IDs, balancing data integrity with confidentiality. 

These state models demonstrate that it’s possible to build tracking systems that are federally compliant, technically sound, and respectful of family privacy. An emerging approach of using hashing algorithms to generate anonymous identifiers also holds promise, though no state has fully implemented it. 

While record linkage is essential for compliance, there is no single prescribed model for doing so. States should tailor their approaches to their infrastructure, data governance structures, and partnerships. 

The Way Forward

To support implementation of community pathways under FFPSA, states should consider: 

• Adopting flexible ID systems that enable cross-agency data sharing with minimal storage of personal information
• Investing in infrastructure,  like master data tools or bridge tables, to support accurate matching
• Defining clear governance protocols to control data access and maintain privacy
• Ensuring sufficient staffing to uphold data quality and address discrepancies

These strategies can help jurisdictions comply with federal mandates while strengthening trust and preserving the voluntary nature of community-based prevention. 

Chapin Hall partners with policymakers, practitioners, and communities to strengthen prevention services and improve outcomes for children and families. For questions about this resource or support in implementing unique identifiers in community pathways, contact Sean Hyland. 

Read the brief