Iowa will be the first state to participate in a federal expansion of support programs aimed at helping parents overcome addiction and prevent children from entering the foster care system.
The announcement was made by U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., during a visit to the House of Mercy in Des Moines Aug. 18. Kennedy was joined by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and state and federal HHS officials.
Under the expansion, two programs, Family-Based Recovery and Wellness Recovery Action Plan, or WRAP, focused on peer support interventions for parents or guardians struggling with substance use, will be added to the to the Title-IV Prevention Services Clearinghouse. This addition will allow states to claim federal reimbursement for the services.
Kennedy said the programs allow the state to reach qualifying families before children need to be placed in foster care, through providing peer support, intensive parent training and other resources.
“Too often, government intervenes after addiction has already pushed a family into crisis, and a child is at risk of entering foster care,” Kennedy said. “We want to intervene before that happens.”
Caregiver substance use was the reason almost 3,000 Iowa children were removed from their families and placed in foster care last year, according to Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Principal, Deputy Director Larry Johnson. Around 9,000 Iowa children were victims of child abuse involving a caregiver who uses substances.
“These numbers tell us something. They tell us that we have families in need and we need to meet those families where they’re at with the support at the right time,” Johnson said. “Family-based recovery brings intensive, clinically sound substance use treatment and recovery support directly into the homes of the parents who need it.
“That matters because many parents face real barriers to traditional treatment.”
Eligible families for the program will need to come through a child abuse assessment when they have been reported for suspicion of maltreatment, according to Iowa HHS’s Director of the Division of Family Well-Being and Protection, Janée Harvey.
If it is determined there is a substance use disorder at play following an interview between the family and a child protection worker, a referral to the family-based recovery would be made, Harvey said. The programs will not include an income threshold, and participation will be voluntary.
“This is kind of a nice hybrid where service actually goes into the family to bring that treatment right into that living room,” Harvey said.
Reynolds said Iowa has already updated its prevention plan to put the approaches in place. After Iowa’s request to join the program was approved Aug. 18, she said some time will be needed for the state to plan the implementation.
The governor emphasized the importance of providing substance use treatment to families while acknowledging that she is 26 years into recovery after struggling with an alcohol addiction.
“It’s (addiction) not a choice, but I think, you know, by me sharing my story, hopefully that gives other individuals the will to ask for help and that’s where it starts when you realize that you can’t do it on your own and when you’re used to really managing most of your life or thinking that you’re managing most of your life,” Reynolds said.
“Hopefully that message will continue to resonate with Iowans and Americans across this country because there’s so much hope out there and it, recovery is real and it makes a difference.”
Kennedy also attends events with Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Zach Lahn
Kennedy also attended an event with Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks Monday, Aug. 17, in Newton where they touted the return of the Presidential Fitness Test.
Kennedy also was scheduled to headline a Tuesday, Aug. 18, fundraiser for Republican gubernatorial candidate Zach Lahn.
Lahn told reporters he and Kennedy plan to go fishing, and he posted a video to social media showing the pair of them perusing Scheels for new lures.
“I have a great respect for him,” said Lahn, who has embraced Kennedy’s Make America Healthy Again movement on the campaign trail and earned an endorsement from the Kennedy-aligned MAHA Action PAC early in his primary campaign.
“I just see him as somebody who is a true believer in the health of kids,” Lahn said. “And now there’s partisan politics that are getting in the way of some of these things. But I believe that what he’s wanting to have is good medications, good science, making sure that there’s parental choice involved. So it means a lot to have him here. It means a lot to call him a friend, honestly.”
Rapid Response Politics Reporter Maya Marchel Hoff can be reached at mmarchelHoff@registermedia.com. You can find her on X (formerly Twitter) at @mmarchelhoff.
Register Chief Politics Reporter Brianne Pfannenstiel contributed to this report.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: RFK Jr. unveils federal plan to expand substance use treatment in Iowa
Reporting by Maya Marchel Hoff, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Maya Marchel Hoff, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
