The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to solicit proposals for 36-month demonstration projects which will:
1. Conduct a Family Group Decision-Making (FGDM) program which effectively supports family connections and engages family members in ways that achieve positive outcomes
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for the target population of children who are in, or at risk of entering, foster care and their families; and 2. Analyze the implementation, impact and cost of the FGDM program, through a rigorous local evaluation and cross-site evaluation participation, and produce high level evidence of what worked and why, in order to contribute to the evidence base for FGDM practice.
Grant projects will implement and evaluate a FGDM program, which includes essential elements required under this FOA.
Grant projects will be designed to support families in making decisions and developing plans that nurture children in the target population, protect them from abuse and neglect, and, when appropriate, address domestic violence issues in a safe manner.
Throughout the project period, grantees will devote a substantial amount of resources to the effective collection and analysis of data for evaluation purposes, and to the dissemination of evaluation findings regarding the impact of the FGDM process on safety, permanency and well-being outcomes for the target population of children and their families.