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August/September 2002Vol. 3, No. 7$11.4 Million in Grant Awards for National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Tommy Thompson announced in June $11.4 million in new grants to improve treatment and services for children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events. The awards are part of the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative, which provides Federal support for a national effort to improve treatment and services for child trauma. The grants are funded through HHS' s Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA). Some of the money for the grants comes from $7.2 million in Public Health Service Emergency Supplemental (PHSE) funds requested by President Bush last fall.

SAMHSA Administrator Charles Curie stated in a press release that "traumatic stress can result from many incidents—experiencing natural and human-caused disasters, child abuse, rape or other dangerous crimes, as well as witnessing such trauma happening to a loved one. The initiative will increase our understanding and help provide the best interventions for children and adolescents."

The initiative comprises the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, which was funded last fall; Intervention Development and Evaluation Centers; and Community Treatment and Service Centers.

Eighteen grants were awarded to organizations across the United States. Awards focusing specifically on child abuse, neglect, child maltreatment, and children in the foster care system include:

  • Children's Hospital and Health Center, San Diego, California ($600,000 per year for 3 years) will utilize its large, culturally diverse community service environment to explore effective treatments crossing trauma types from child abuse and witnessing intimate partner violence, to child accident victims or those experiencing painful medical procedures.
  • Child Abuse Trauma Treatment Replication Center, Cincinnati, Ohio ($600,000 per year for 3 years) will implement effective community-level treatment services necessary to positively change the life course of large numbers of traumatized children and adolescents by providing a Replication Package of training, tools, and strategies for the deployment of proven child abuse treatments.
  • National Children's Advocacy Center Inc., Huntsville, Alabama ($588,307 per year for 3 years) will collect information on existing and promising approaches to treatment and services for victims of child maltreatment and their families or caregivers.
  • New York University, New York, New York ($1,730,064 estimated funding from PHSE for a total of 3 years) will focus on the assessment and treatment of children who have been physically abused, assaulted, as well as those who have witnessed domestic or family violence.
  • Maine General Medical Center, Augusta, Maine ($288,259 per year for 3 years) will demonstrate a decentralized model suited to the needs of children and adolescents who have experienced or witnessed traumatic events including children in the foster care system, in rural and small town service settings.

More about the awards, including the entire list of recipients, can be found on the HHS website at http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2002pres/20020619.html.

Related Item

Read about previous trauma grant awards in "New HHS Initiative Focuses on Child Trauma" from the January 2002 issue of the Children's Bureau Express.

cbexpress.acf.hhs.gov

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