November 2004Vol. 5, No. 9New National Child Welfare Resource Center Contracts Announced

The Children's Bureau recently announced the award of contracts for the operation of seven National Child Welfare Resource Centers (NRCs). Through the establishment of these NRCs and an emphasis on coordination of efforts and evidence-based practice, the Children's Bureau hopes to further assist States, tribes, and other public agencies in their delivery of child welfare services to ensure the safety, permanency, and well-being of children, youth, and families.

The 5-year cooperative agreements were awarded as follows:

• Organizational Improvement--University of Southern Maine
• Child Protective Services--ACTION for Child Protection
• Family-Centered Practice and Permanency Planning--Research Foundation of CUNY on behalf of Hunter College of CUNY
• Data and Technology--Child Welfare League of America
• Legal and Judicial Issues--American Bar Association for Justice and Education
• Special Needs Adoption--Spaulding for Children
• Youth Development--University of Oklahoma

These seven NRCs will function as a network to provide training and technical assistance to State, local, tribal, and other public child welfare agencies and family and juvenile courts in order to build capacity to address Federal requirements administered by the Children's Bureau. A major focus of these training and technical assistance efforts will be States' conformity with the outcomes and systemic factors outlined in the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs) and with the development and implementation of States' Program Improvement Plans.

Along with the award of these cooperative agreements, the Children's Bureau will make some modifications in the management of the NRCs to address some of the concerns that arose from the first round of CFSRs. Four major management changes will be made:

1. The NRC on Organizational Improvement will serve as the single point of entry for all States and tribes to request onsite training and technical assistance from all NRCs.
2. All NRCs will work with the Training and Technical Assistance Coordination Committee, which will be composed of Federal staff (including Project Officers, CFSR National Review Team members, and Regional and other staff).
3. All NRCs will work with AdoptUSKids, the Children's Bureau Clearinghouses, and other members of the training and technical assistance network.
4. The NRC on Organizational Improvement will evaluate the results of technical assistance provided by all seven NRCs.

The award announcements can be found on the Children's Bureau website at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/resource/cb-discretionary-grant-awards/.

Related Item

The Children's Bureau also announced the award of two additional cooperative agreements: The NRC for Community-Based Grants for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (awarded to the Chapel Hill Training-Outreach Project, Inc.) and the Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program (six organizations funded, with the largest grant to Spaulding for Children), as well as Discretionary Grants in the following categories:

• Child Welfare Training (M.S.W., Hispanic, B.S.W.)
• Demonstration Projects in Postadoption Services and Marriage Education
• Field-Initiated Service Demonstration Projects in the Adoption Field
• Recreational Services for Children Affected by HIV/AIDS
• Previous Abandoned Infant Comprehensive Service Demonstration Projects
• New Start Local Comprehensive Support Services Projects
• Family Support Services for Grandparents and Other Relatives Providing Caregiving for Children of Substance Abusing and/or HIV-Positive Women

These announcements also can be found at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/resource/cb-discretionary-grant-awards/.