Image Title: Multi-Phase Grant Program
Description:
Phase I: Activities included identifying the target population, describing its needs,
and developing a comprehensive service model.
Phase II: Six Phase 1 grantees received Phase II grants to implement and conduct
initial testing of the comprehensive service model developed in Phase 1.
Phase III: Summative evaluations being conducted to determine the effectiveness
of the comprehensive service models designed piloted in the earlier phases.
The Children's Bureau uses a competitive peer review process to award discretionary grants to State, Tribal, and local agencies; universities; faith- and community-based organizations; and other nonprofit and for-profit groups to support innovation and progress in research, capacity building, and program improvement efforts.
For more information about the Children’s Bureau’s discretionary grants programs, visit the Children's Bureau website.
Discretionary Grants Library
Search the Children's Bureau Discretionary Grants Library for information, products, and tools from a specific grant or view grantee resources by topic, document type, or State.
For recent grantee publications developed by Information Gateway, visit the Grantee Lessons Learned Series. For Information Gateway grantee publications prior to 2019, browse the collection from the library.
Featured Grantee Spotlights
Updates and resources from select Children’s Bureau discretionary grantees are highlighted below. Subscribe to The Grantee Connection newsletter for quarterly features sent right to your inbox.
The Children's Bureau issued awards in fiscal years 2018 and 2019 to develop, implement, and evaluate primary prevention strategies to improve the safety, stability, and well-being of all families through a continuum of community-based services and supports.
IM-18-05: Strengthening Families Through Primary Prevention of Child Maltreatment and Unnecessary Parent-Child Separation
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau (2018)
Provides a call-to-action for the child welfare field and Children's Bureau grantees to focus on primary prevention to improve outcomes for children and their families. The Information Memorandum identifies key partners in primary prevention, major components of prevention and family strengthening programs, and State and local examples of promising programs.
Jerry Milner: Time to Ask Tough Questions About Child Welfare [Video]
National Child Abuse and Neglect Technical Assistance and Strategic Dissemination Center (2019)
Presents a brief discussion by Jerry Milner, Associate Commissioner of the Children’s Bureau, about the need for child welfare agencies, communities, and service providers to refocus on preventing child maltreatment.
Primary Prevention: Themes From Fiscal Year 2018 Grantee Site Visits
| Series Title | Grantee Lessons Learned |
| Author(s) | Child Welfare Information Gateway |
| Availability | View Download (PDF - 198KB) |
| Year Published | 2020 |
Highlights common themes and unique examples gathered by Community Collaborations to Strengthen and Preserve Families grantees during Children's Bureau-led site visits to other jurisdictions with promising approaches to community-based primary prevention.
What If? 21st NCCAN Opening Video [Video]
National Child Abuse and Neglect Technical Assistance and Strategic Dissemination Center (2019)
Shows an informational video on the call-to-action to refocus the child welfare system from one that responds to child abuse and neglect to one that prevents maltreatment in order to strengthen and preserve families.
In fiscal year 2014, the Children's Bureau awarded one 5-year grant, which was extended to fiscal year 2020, to strengthen the capacity of child welfare staff and mental health practitioners serving children and youth moving toward or maintaining permanency in adoptive or guardianship homes.
The National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative (NTI) provides two standardized web-based trainings developed by NTI to build the capacity of child welfare and mental health professionals to understand and address the needs of children, youth, and families moving toward or having achieved permanency through adoption or guardianship. The trainings also aim to improve collaboration between service systems with shared language and aligned curricula. The following are the training videos for each audience:
Child Welfare Professionals
- Introductory video
- Training benefits and features
- Training demo and curriculum modules listing
- Training resources
Mental Health Professionals
The Children's Bureau awarded a 5-year cooperative agreement to build the capacity of child welfare professionals and improve the organizations that recruit, train, supervise, manage, and retain them.
The National Child Welfare Workforce Institute (NCWWI) provides information, resources, and webinars to help develop and support the child welfare workforce.
We Are Child Welfare Campaign
Presents information on a campaign to raise awareness of the important role child welfare professionals play in children's and family’s lives, as well as how others can support their work.
Workforce Excellence Sites
Describes NCWWI's selection of four jurisdictions and three Tribal child welfare programs across the country to evaluate and improve the outcomes of their child welfare workforce.
In fiscal year 2014, the Children's Bureau awarded one 5-year grant, which was extended to fiscal year 2020, to develop supports and interventions to achieve permanency and stability in adoptive and guardianship homes.
The National Quality Improvement Center for Adoption and Guardianship Support and Preservation (QIC-AG) offers resources, information on the QIC-AG Permanency Continuum Framework, and lessons learned from the following seven partner sites:
QIC-AG Permanency Continuum Framework
Implementation Lessons Learned [Webinar]
QIC-AG (2019)
Provides insights on what partner site staff learned throughout their grant period related to recruitment and retention, cost and sustainability, stakeholder collaboration, and logistics.
The Children's Bureau, within the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, developed a multiphase grant initiative to build the evidence base on what works to prevent homelessness among youth and young adults who have been involved in the child welfare system. This program is referred to as Youth At-Risk of Homelessness (YARH). Eighteen organizations received funding for the first phase (phase I), a 2-year planning grant (2013–2015). Grantees used the planning period to conduct data analyses to help them understand their local population and develop a comprehensive service model to improve youth outcomes related to housing, education and training, social well-being, and permanent connections. Six of those organizations received additional funding to refine and test their comprehensive service models during the second phase (phase II).
Beginning in early February of 2021 and continuing through late May of 2021, Information Gateway will host national webinars each focused on one of the YARH 2 grantees. These webinars will feature lessons learned and share additional resources and tools.
For more information about the planning and implementation period of the phase I and phase II grantees, visit the YARH evaluation technical assistance provider Mathematica and the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation.
YARH Phase II Grantees
Find information on and resources developed by YARH phase II grantees and their technical assistance providers.
Alameda County Social Services Agency
Alameda County Youth Transitions Partnership (YTP)
The Alameda County Social Services Agency, in collaboration with community partners, developed YTP, a model that blends service coordination, intensive case management, and dialectical behavior therapy to help youth in foster care engage with available support systems and improve their outcomes. For more details about the project and intervention, see the Project Summary.
Colorado Department of Human Services/Division of Child Welfare
Colorado's Pathways to Success: Engaging Youth in a Coach-Like Way
Pathways is a voluntary, intensive, youth-driven, and strengths-based case management approach with the long-term goal of preventing homelessness among youth with foster care experience. For more details about the project and intervention, see the Project Summary.
- Policy briefs and other information about Pathways can be found at the Center for Policy Research.
- Colorado Pathways to Success Intervention Manual
Lighthouse Youth and Family Services
Watch Me Rise (WMR)
WMR was based in Hamilton County, OH (Cincinnati), and served homeless young adults who entered the Lighthouse Sheakley Center for Youth as a shelter resident or day program participant. For more details about the project and intervention, see the Project Summary.
University of Maryland, Baltimore, School of Social Work
Enhanced-Youth Transition Planning (E-YTP)
The Enhanced-Youth Transition Planning model is an individualized, youth-driven, strengths-based, and team-based transition-planning process for older youth (ages 14–21) in foster care developed for a rural setting. For more details about the project and intervention, see the Project Summary.
Westchester County Department of Social Services
The BraveLife Intervention
Westchester County DSS partnered with The Children’s Village and the Fordham University Graduate School of Social Service’s Ravazzin Center to develop BraveLife Intervention, a youth-centered, strengths-based initiative. For more details about the project and intervention, see the Project Summary.
Children's Bureau Discretionary Grants Tools and Information: