Child and Family Well-Being 

The new Child and Family Well-Bring (CFWB) Department will integrate the First 5 Commission of San Diego and Child Welfare Services, along with the childcare system and other essential resources for families, to reimagine prevention and protection services to create a partnership that will shift our traditional approach to child protection. 

The new CFWB Department is an extraordinary reimagining of CWS in the County of San Diego that aims to fundamentally shift how children, youth, families, and communities are supported. The goal is to provide family strengthening and prevention services to families in a more holistic and integrated way, through keeping families together, holding the family’s voice as the expert in how to best keep their children safe, and reducing unnecessary child protective actions that have historically harmed and separated families.

In addition to the prevention support services offered through First 5 San Diego, the new Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) legislation that was signed into law in 2018 changed the landscape of the funding distribution so more preventative services can be offered to families in need, before crisis occurs. The purpose of FFPSA is to have services available to prevent the need for families to ever make formal contact with the child welfare system. These services will be accessible through the Prevention Hub, and the County of San Diego has partnered with different community-based organizations to support the development of this prevention pathway that will consist of early intervention and concrete support services.

If further involvement is needed, CWS will continue to be present to provide protection services for children and families to ensure that foster care is a support for families, not a replacement.