The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) announced the approval of its Family First Title IV-E Prevention Plan by the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Children’s Bureau. The federal Family First Prevention Services Act, signed into law as part of the Federal Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, increased states’ funding and flexibility to operate programs aimed at strengthening and supporting families to keep children safely at home and out of foster care. Illinois is among 17 states and the District of Columbia to submit its plan in compliance with the act and have it approved. Illinois’ five-year plan outlines how the state will support families in crisis by mobilizing and broadening the array of evidence-based interventions for parenting skills, substance use disorder prevention and treatment and mental health services to prevent children from entering foster care; encouraging and supporting kinship care; improving services to pregnant and parenting teens; and shortening lengths of stay and improving the quality of care for children for whom residential care is appropriate. To read Illinois’ Family First Prevention Plan, visit www2.illinois.gov/dcfs.