ACF Guide to Federal Funds: The HHS Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has released an updated funding guide providing basic information about finding and applying for federal funds, specific information about ACF's grant opportunities, and numerous resources and toolkits available. While it is targeted to community and faith based groups, the information is relevant to county agencies as well. Beginning on page 10, the guide lists the types of grants that are typically available in any given year and provides links to national resource centers.
Child Welfare/TANF Collaboration in Kinship Navigation Programs Grant: Counties are eligible to apply to ACF for a project that will develop and implement Kinship Navigator programs to: 1. Assist kinship caregivers, through information and referral systems and other means, to learn about, find, and use existing programs and services; and 2. Promote effective partnerships between public and private, community and faith-based agencies to better serve the needs of kinship caregiver families. Grant projects will be implemented through strong collaboration between the grantee; the public Child Welfare agency (if the primary applicant is not the public Child Welfare agency); and the agency administering TANF. These Kinship Navigator programs will be designed to promote protective factors as a means to support social and emotional well-being and healthy, positive functioning in kinship caregiver families served or potentially served by the Child Welfare and TANF systems. Applications are due July 16, 2012.
Family Connection Grants: Counties are eligible to apply for project funding that will expand the availability of comprehensive, residential treatment services for parents and their minor children, including services for non-residential family members. This family-centered service approach will address the complex, multiple needs of the target population of families with children at risk of entering or re-entering foster care. The target population will include women, their minor children, fathers of the children, partners of the women, and the extended family members of the women and children, as appropriate. Projects will provide services to stabilize, strengthen, preserve and reunite families. Projects may initiate comprehensive residential family treatment programs with the target population or may expand or integrate existing programs. Services provided should be trauma-informed and should be driven by a comprehensive trauma-informed assessment. Applications are due July 16, 2012.
Regional Partnership Grants: Counties are eligible to apply for targeted grants for regional partnerships that provide, through interagency collaboration and integration of programs and services, activities and services that are designed to increase the well-being of, improve permanency outcomes for, and enhance the safety of children who are in out-of-home placements or are at risk of being placed in out-of-home placements as a result of a parent's or caretaker's substance abuse.
The State child welfare agency that is responsible for the State plan under title IV-B or title IV-E of the Social Security Act must be included in the regional partnership. If your regional partnership consists of a county that is located in a State that is State-supervised, county-administered, the county child welfare agency satisfies the "administration of the State plan" requirement. In such a partnership, the State agency that is ultimately responsible for State Plan compliance under title IV-B or title IV-E is not required to be a partner in the regional partnership, but also is not precluded from participating as a member of the regional partnership. In a State-administered system, a local office of the State child welfare agency can participate in the partnership and satisfy this statutory requirement. Applications are due July 16, 2012.
Family Connection Grants: Counties are eligible to apply for grants that will demonstrate: The effectiveness of integrated programs of intensive Family-finding activities and Family Group Decision-making (FGDM) meetings in supporting connections with family members for the target population of children/youth; and how family members will be engaged in building their capacity to meet the needs of children/youth in their care. Grant programs will conduct: Intensive Family-Finding activities, which utilize search technology, effective family engagement, and other means to locate biological family members for children/youth in the Child Welfare system, and once identified, work to establish/re-establish relationships and explore ways to establish a permanent family placement for them; and FGDM meetings, which enable families to make decisions and develop plans that nurture children and protect them from abuse and neglect, and when appropriate, address domestic violence issues in a safe manner. Applications are due July 20, 2012.
Mental and Behavioral Health Services in Child Welfare: This funding opportunity is soliciting proposals for projects that will improve the social and emotional well-being of children and youth in child welfare systems that have mental and behavioral health needs. These grants, in the form of cooperative agreements, are designed to: Assist public child welfare agencies, through interagency collaboration, in improving adoption outcomes by creating a flexible service array that provides early access to effective mental and behavioral health services that match the needs of children, youth, and families in the service population; Support the implementation of evidence-based or evidence-informed screening, assessment, case planning, and services in child welfare systems while simultaneously targeting and de-scaling practices and services that: 1) are not effective; and/or 2) do not meet the assessed needs of the target population. To fully meet the intent of grant, grantees must adopt and implement a combination of specific, clearly-defined screening, assessment, case planning and service array reconfiguration activities. Applications are due July 20, 2012.
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