FY 2023 Children's Bureau Discretionary Grant Awards

Publication Date: September 29, 2023
Current as of:

The following are the Children’s Bureau discretionary grants awarded in fiscal year (FY) 2023. 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.

Building Early Childhood-Child Welfare Partnerships to Support the Well-Being of Young Children, Families and Caregivers

HHS-2023-ACF-ACYF-CA-0011

The purpose of this funding opportunity was to support projects to develop or enhance strategic multisystem and multilevel collaboration between child welfare, early care and education (ECE) systems, and other relevant partners to effectively prevent child abuse and neglect and provide comprehensive supports to children and families involved or at-risk of involvement with the child welfare system, including children of color and their families. Grants will support infrastructure and capacity building through the development of policy, coordination mechanisms and procedures, quality practice, and other cross-system strategies. This will include efforts to maximize the identification, referral, enrollment, and attendance of infants and young children into comprehensive high-quality ECE services. The first-year award amount is up to $275,000, with a project period up to 36 months. 

Grants were awarded to the following entities: 

Field-Initiated Approach to Addressing Racial Bias and Inequity in Child Welfare

HHS-2023-ACF-ACYF-CA-0020

The purpose of this funding opportunity was to support the development, implementation, and evaluation of field-initiated approaches to addressing racial bias and inequity in child welfare and improving the safety, stability, and well-being of families in traditionally underserved communities. As a field-based initiative, this funding opportunity will enable communities to design and lead focused solutions to local issues of systemic disproportionality and inequitable access to services experienced by traditionally underserved communities at varying points across the child welfare continuum. The first-year award amount is up to $500,000, with a project period up to 60 months.

Grants were awarded to the following entities:

National Center for Adoption Competent Mental Health Services

HHS-2023-ACF-ACYF-CO-0039

The purpose of this funding opportunity was to establish, by awarding a cooperative agreement, a National Center for Adoption Competent Mental Health Services that will have the capacity to work with the child welfare systems of states, tribes, and territories to build bridges with the mental health community for the further development and training of mental health practitioners related to separation, loss, grief, and trauma. The development of a national center is expected to raise the level of use of existing evidence-informed, state-of-the-art, adoption-competent training for mental health practitioners. This will increase the access to and availability of professionals with trauma-informed competence. The first-year award amount is up to $4,000,000, with a project period up to 60 months.

The grant was awarded to the following organization:

National Center for Enhanced Post-Adoption Support

HHS-2023-ACF-ACYF-CO-0033

The purpose of this funding was to create, through a cooperative agreement, a National Center for Enhanced Post-Adoption Support. The center will serve as the focal point for national postadoption expertise and evidence-informed training and technical assistance services to support states in developing and implementing comprehensive and intensive postpermanency support programs. Support programs will provide long-term, continuous support (up to 2 years) to the entire adoptive family and may include crisis intervention services, adoption-competent counseling and mental health services, educational advocacy, and respite support. These supports and services will help ensure the well-being and stability of children and youth after achieving permanency through adoption or guardianship. The first-year award amount is up to $4,000,000, with a project period up to 60 months.

The grant was awarded to the following organization:

The National Child Welfare Workforce Institute

HHS-2023-ACF-ACYF-CT-0012

The purpose of this funding opportunity was to establish, through a cooperative agreement, the National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI). NCWWI will work with jurisdictions (states, territories, tribes) to diversify the child welfare workforce at all levels and improve performance, well-being, and recruitment practices. NCWWI will work closely with jurisdictions and complete a broad range of technical assistance and training activities that promote innovative, promising, and evidence-informed child welfare workforce practices; support workforce and leadership development; improve agency culture and climate; increase retention; and increase culturally responsive practice. To address the workforce crisis, NCWWI will play a national leadership role in child welfare workforce development and recruitment to include support of university-agency partnerships and the launch of a national awareness campaign. The first-year award amount is up to $5,000,000, with a project period up to 60 months. 

The grant was awarded to the following organization:

Providing Support Through a National Hotline for Child Safety and Family Well-Being Concerns

HHS-2023-ACF-ACYF-CA-0077

The purpose of this funding opportunity was to support a national hotline that provides essential information, referrals, and support through calls, texts, and chat-based technology to youth and adults who are concerned about child safety or family well-being. To achieve this goal, the project will focus on using all available best practices and existing research in training hotline staff, using communication technology, and preventing and responding to child safety and family well-being concerns in a hotline environment. The project will maintain an up-to-date referral database of relevant national, state, and local information, resources, and concrete supports. The project will use whole-family, community-based approaches to supporting families and facilitating recovery from safety concerns. The project will also ensure awareness and equitable access for underserved and marginalized communities, including non-English speakers and those with speech and hearing impairments. The first-year award amount is up to $2,000,000, with a project period up to 60 months.

The grant was awarded to the following organization: 

Quality Improvement Center on Workforce Analytics

HHS-2023-ACF-ACYF-CT-0010

The purpose of this funding opportunity was to establish, by cooperative agreement, a Quality Improvement Center on Workforce Analytics (QIC-WA). The QIC-WA will emphasize the development and evaluation of workforce analytics that inform worker recruitment, performance, and well-being and support workforce innovation and retention. The QIC-WA will build knowledge of evidence-based workforce decision-making practices; appropriate employee selection protocols; the effective organization of staff to achieve safety, permanency, and well-being goals; and innovative nontraditional pathways to expand agency recruitment pools. The first-year award amount is up to $1,275,000, with a project period up to 60 months.

The grant was awarded to the following organization: 

Standing Announcement for Tribal Title IV-E Plan Development Grants

HHS-2022-ACF-ACYF-CS-0079

The purpose of this NOFO was to provide grants to tribes, tribal organizations, or tribal consortia that are seeking to develop and, within 24 months of grant receipt, submit to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services a plan to implement a title IV-E foster care, adoption assistance, and—at tribal option—guardianship assistance program. Grant funds under this NOFO may be used for the cost of developing a title IV-E plan under section 471 of the Social Security Act (the Act) to carry out a program under section 479B of the Act. The grant may be used for costs related 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 is up to $300,000, with one 24-month project period.

  • No applications submitted.

State-Tribal Partnerships to Implement Best Practices in Indian Child Welfare

HHS-2023-ACF-ACYF-CW-0055

The purpose of this funding opportunity was to assist and promote coordinated efforts among state courts, child welfare agencies, and tribes to develop and implement best practices to minimize the disproportionate placement of American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children away from their families and communities and other disparate treatment experienced by Indigenous families. Projects will serve as demonstration sites to generate evidence on implementation efforts to preserve families of federally recognized AI/AN tribes; protect children; and ensure children remain connected to their families, communities, and culture. The first-year award amount is up to $500,000, with a project period up to 60 months.

Grants were awarded to the following entities: 

Trauma-Interventions for Children and Youth in Foster Care With Complex Mental, Behavioral, and Physical Health Needs

HHS-2023-ACF-ACYF-CA-0078 

The purpose of this funding opportunity was to seek trauma-informed interventions to address trauma in children and youth in foster care with complex mental, behavioral, and health conditions. These projects will implement and evaluate innovative trauma-informed programming that is culturally and developmentally responsive and achieves demonstrable improvements in the well-being of children and youth.  Services can include the following: evidence-based clinical services, foster parent training and curricula, volunteer support services for foster parents, positive biological and birth family engagement, enrichment activities for children and youth, and trauma-informed systems work. The award amount is up to $1,000,000, with a project period up to 36 months.

Grants were awarded to the following entities:

Tribal Court Improvement Program

HHS-2023-ACF-ACYF-CS-0053  

The purpose of this funding opportunity was to provide grants to tribal governments or tribal consortia to improve the handling of American Indian and Alaska Native child welfare cases by tribal courts. The grants will provide support to tribal governments for the following: conducting assessments of how tribal courts (including courts for tribal consortia) handle child welfare proceedings; implementing changes to address the results of child welfare court assessments; ensuring the safety, permanency, and well-being needs of children are met in a timely and complete manner; and continuously improving the quality of court hearings and legal representation, including the engagement of parties, through training and efforts to increase substantive and procedural justice. The first-year award amount is up to $150,000, with a project period up to 60 months.

Grants were awarded to the following entities: