The following are the Children’s Bureau discretionary grants awarded in fiscal year (FY) 2021. When available, each award includes a link and description of the expired Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO), a list of the grant recipients, and a link to their project abstracts.
Family Connection Grants: Building the Evidence for Kinship Navigator Programs
The purpose of this NOFO was to support a project that will build evidence of the effectiveness of kinship navigator (KN) programs as well as conduct and evaluate a KN program that effectively assists kinship caregivers in learning about, finding, and using programs and services to meet the needs of the children and youth they are raising and their own needs. The selected site will implement a rigorous local evaluation designed to demonstrate significant findings on the effectiveness of the KN program on one of the select target outcomes of child safety, child permanency, child or adult well-being, access to services, referral to services, and/or satisfaction with services. The first-year award amount is up to $600,000, with a project period up to 36 months.
The grant was awarded to:
- Wayfinder Family Services (doing business as Lilliput Families) (Citrus Heights, CA)
Family Support Through Primary Prevention Demonstration Sites
The purpose of this NOFO was to support the implementation and evaluation of Family Support Through Primary Prevention sites for projects of national significance that demonstrate integrated, cross-sector approaches to developing comprehensive child and family well-being systems that are codesigned with families and communities. Sites will demonstrate a process for integrating public health and primary prevention approaches to improve overall community well-being consistent with the social and environmental determinants of health and to create the conditions necessary for all families to thrive. The first-year award amount is up to $750,000, with a project period up to 60 months.
Grants were awarded to the following:
- Brighton Center, Inc. (Newport, KY)
- Colorado Department of Human Services (Denver, CO)
- East Boston Social Centers, Inc. (East Boston, MA)
- Ohio Children’s Trust Fund (Columbus, OH)
- Philadelphia City Department of Human Services (Philadelphia, PA)
- University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc. (Lawrence, KS)
Grants to Tribes, Tribal Organizations and Migrant Programs for Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention Programs
The primary purpose of this NOFO was to support community-based efforts in tribal and migrant communities to prevent child abuse and neglect and to strengthen and support families. Funded projects will develop, operate, expand, enhance, and coordinate initiatives, programs, and activities to reduce the likelihood of child abuse and neglect, consistent with the goals outlined by title II of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act. This legislation specifies that 1 percent of the available funding from title II will be reserved to fund tribes, tribal organizations, and migrant programs. The first-year award amount is up to $205,705, with three grants awarded for a project period up to 60 months and five grants awarded for a project period up to 36 months.
Grants were awarded for a project period up to 60 months to the following:
- Cook Inlet Tribal Council, Inc. (Anchorage, AK)
- Peoria Indian Tribe of OK (Miami, OK)
- Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic (Toppenish, WA)
Grants were awarded for a project period up to 36 months to the following:
- Child Abuse Prevention Services (Marshalltown, IA)
- Chugachmiut (Anchorage, AK)
- Helping Ourselves Prevent Emergencies (Craig, AK)
- Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas (Horton, KS)
- San Carlos Apache Tribe (San Carlos, AZ)
Improving Child Welfare Through Investing in Family
The purpose of this NOFO was (1) to award cooperative agreements to implement and evaluate practices and interventions that provide an array of kinship preparation services and ongoing kinship supports and (2) to promote shared parenting to build trusting relationships between all out-of-home caregivers and parents of children and youth in foster care to ensure parents and families remain actively involved in normal child-rearing activities. These grants will secure strong partnerships needed for effective and efficient selection of practices and interventions, program implementation, and evaluation activities. The grants will also meaningfully engage parents, relatives, kin caregivers, youth, foster parents, and alumni of foster care throughout the project. The first-year award amount is up to $500,000, with a project period up to 60 months.
Grants were awarded to the following:
- Amara (Seattle, WA)
- Bethany Christian Services USA, LLC (Grand Rapids, MI)
- Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (Cherokee, NC)
- Spaulding for Children (Southfield, MI)
- University of Kansas Center for Research, Inc. (Lawrence, KS)
Quality Improvement Center: Engaging Youth in Finding Permanency
The purpose of this NOFO was to establish, by awarding a cooperative agreement, one national Quality Improvement Center on Engaging Youth (QIC/EY) that will conduct six to eight projects in partnership with public child welfare systems of the states, tribes, counties, or territories to produce a multifaceted system of successful models of youth engagement. The youth engagement models will include engaging youth in finding their own permanency as well as engaging them in identifying the barriers and building strategies to successful engagement of youth throughout the system of care. The QIC/EY will also develop capacity-building training, tools, and strategies that will serve as a change agent for the child welfare workforce and system to embrace the voice of youth in all aspects of the system of care. The first-year award amount is up to $4,000,000, with a project period up to 60 months.
The grant was awarded to:
- Spaulding for Children (Southfield, MI)
Standing Announcement for Tribal Title IV-E Plan Development Grants
The purpose of this NOFO was to award one-time grants to tribes, tribal organizations, or tribal consortia that are seeking to develop a plan to implement a title IV-E foster care; adoption assistance; and, at tribal option, guardianship assistance program. The grant may be used for costs relating to the development of data-collection systems, a cost-allocation methodology, agency and tribal court procedures necessary to meet the case review system requirements under section 475(5) of the Act, or any other costs attributable to meeting any other requirement necessary for approval of a title IV-E plan. The award amount was up to $300,000 for one 24-month project period.
- No grants were awarded in FY 2021