Governments that need or want to transform their systems for providing human services often seem incapable of mounting the multi-year efforts necessary to achieve their goals. Obstacles include the underfunding of the change effort, the lack of political will, and many other factors. Planners and policymakers who undertake a system conversion need to locate or create a source of funds to pay for the costs of the conversion. These transition costs are limited in duration, quantifiable, and separate from operating costs. Funding mechanisms include public debt, internal loan funds, and the creation of a special-purpose authority. An effective plan for a human service conversion describes the new system's vision, establishes a timeline for the transition, identifies the costs of transition, anticipates and addresses barriers, predicts and plans for the amount of error and failure the effort can tolerate, and addresses and explore financing mechanisms. Policymakers need to confront several important questions and issues if they want to undertake such an effort. Programs for which alternative financing might be used to finance a system conversion include juvenile detention, juvenile corrections, prenatal care, child welfare, family preservation, foster care reform, child support, and mental health. State government is usually the most appropriate issuing authority for capital funding of transition. Recommended actions for State leaders and appended methodology for determining the costs of system conversion