In the last few weeks, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has issued funding announcements regarding several key issues in the child welfare system. The proposals’ release come late in the year due to the lengthy process for finalizing the Federal Fiscal Year 2011 Budget. The RFPs provide funding opportunities for mostly states and tribes to pursue additional revenue in the development of initiatives that will support the children in the foster care system. Among those funding announcements
- Building Collaborations to Increase Educational Stability – As part of the Fostering Connections for Success and Increase Adoption Assistance Act stronger collaboration between child welfare and school systems is required to ensure that foster children receive maximum educational opportunities. The work with education systems is difficult and yet, for the success of foster children’s educational experience, coordination between schools and the neighborhoods where children are removed must occur. The funding requires development of policies, procedures, and programs to increase school success for children ages 10 to 17. For more information on this opportunity, visit www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/foa/view/HHS-2011-ACF-ACYF-CO-0183.
- Trauma Focused Practice in CPS Delivery - This funding announcement provides support for child welfare agencies to develop and provide effective mental health services for children and trauma-informed systems of care that promote child safety, permanency, and well-being. The assessment of children in the child welfare delivery system who have been traumatized and the development of programs to improve care for those children. More information related to this funding opportunity can be found at www.acf.hhs.gov/grant/open/foa/view/HHS-2011-ACF-ACYF-CO-0169/.
- Family Connection Grants: Using Family Group Decision-making to Build Protective Factors for Children and Families – This funding opportunity supports demonstration projects that test the effectiveness of family group decision-making as a service approach that prevents children from entering foster care, thereby reducing the time that these children and families are involved with the child welfare system. Projects will engage families in building protective factors and reducing risk factors for children and families, and will address related domestic violence, mental health, and substance abuse issues. More information is available at www.acf.hhs.gov/grant/open/foa/view/HHS-2011-ACF-ACYF-CF-0181
- Child Welfare -- Early Education Partnerships to Expand Protective Factors for Children with Child Welfare Involvement – The purpose of this announcement is to support initiatives to implement multi-disciplinary interventions building on protective factors for children who are at risk of child abuse and neglect or are currently in the child welfare system. These 17-month infrastructure building grants will improve collaboration between early childhood and child welfare programs with the goal of maximizing the number of children involved in the child welfare system who are enrolled in early childhood programs. For more information, the announcement can be located at www.acf.hhs.gov/grant/open/foa/view/HHS-2011-ACF-ACYF-CO-0185.
- Improve Service Delivery to Youth in Child Welfare System – This funding opportunity could assist states in developing and evaluating programs that promote safety and well-being for youth in foster care, as well as affording the youth an enhanced opportunity to return to families. Youth aging out of foster care often have no relationship with the family of origin and the premise is that having that connection improves outcomes for youth. The funds through this grant could aid in building relationships between youth and their families. The target population for this announcement is youth in the child welfare system, or those at risk of entering the child welfare system. More information on this funding announcement is located at www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/open/foa/view/HHS-2011-ACF-ACYF-CW-0186.
