The Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), Children's Bureau (CB), announces the availability of competitive grants authorized by the Abandoned Infants Assistance Act of 1988, as amended.
These grants will be awarded to eligible applicants for activities and services that
are designed to increase well-being, improve permanency, and enhance the safety of infants and young children who have been exposed to a dangerous drug or have been exposed to HIV/AIDs and/or at risk of being placed in out-of-home care as a result of the parent(s)' substance abuse or HIV status.
The purposes of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) are as follows:
To develop and implement programs of comprehensive community-based support services for infants and young children, particularly those who have been perinatally exposed to a dangerous drug, those with, or who have been perinatally exposed to, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), or those who have a life-threatening illness or other special medical need, and their natural families, including older siblings; To evaluate the implementation and outcomes of these comprehensive support services; and To develop these programs as identifiable sites that other States/locales seeking to implement comprehensive support services for this target population can look to for guidance, insight, and possible replication.
Applicants are encouraged to have a coordinated or collaborative infrastructure in place that can enhance the project's capacity to meet a broad range of needs for families involved in substance abuse and/or HIV/AIDs issues.
Applicants are encouraged to test targeted approaches to substance and HIV/AIDs issues affecting the family (including older siblings) and the applicant may choose to focus the project's efforts on a particular point along the continuum of services form prevention treatment to aftercare services.
Funds may be used for services that are consistent with the proposed grant proposal and may include, but not be limited to, work with:
Family-based substance abuse treatment services; Early intervention and preventative services; Child and family counseling; Referrals to mental health services; and/or Parenting skills training.
When considering a service approach and anticipating program outcomes, applicants should carefully review the full announcement and consider the programmatic and evaluation related activities.
To successfully increase well-being, improved permanency, and enhanced safety for children affected by substance and/or HIV/AIDs, the applicant might consider implementing evidence-based, evidenced-informed, and/or trauma-informed practices or other effective treatments.
Additionally, the applicants should provide evidence that these interventions are an appropriate fit for the characteristics and needs of the targeted service population and that the treatments services are feasible based on the capacity and resources available.