How We Developed These Insights These insights draw on FLC’s inaugural cohort: 14 fiscal leaders across 10 jurisdictions. Sources included fellows’ fiscal innovation projects and presentations, workbooks, and reflections, learning from nine virtual sessions and three convenings, and a post- fellowship survey completed by 10 of 14 fellows (71%). The five habits emerged as Foster America identified patterns across fellows’ experiences—how they framed family prosperity, navigated technical and adaptive challenges, used data and storytelling, and built cross-sector partnerships. The findings were further refined through an April 2025 co-design session with fellows, faculty, system leaders, Casey Family Programs partners, and national experts. Participants explored strengths, opportunities, aspirations, results, and threats, helping refine the insights and inform the subsequent cohort. Field reviewers provided additional feedback. What do we mean by “prevention?” Prevention is a broad term, and in child welfare discussions, it can have more than one meaning. At times, prevention refers to everything that helps families thrive—stable housing, income, childcare, community connection—the broad conditions that make a family less likely to experience overload or crisis. Sometimes it refers more specifically to efforts aimed at preventing maltreatment through services like home visiting, substance use treatment, or parenting support. Still others use it in reference to preventing or diminishing contact with the child protection system—avoiding investigation, removal, or placement. In this document, when we talk about prevention and prevention investments, we use it in reference to preventing formal child welfare agency involvement: efforts and dollars that are intended to keep families from ever coming into contact with child protective systems or from moving deeper into removal and placement after initial touchpoints, typically by investing in alternative family supports.
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