National Legal and Judicial Child Welfare Center for Innovation and Advancement | HHS 2024 ACF ACYF CZ 0066

Opportunity Information: Apply for HHS 2024 ACF ACYF CZ 0066

The National Legal and Judicial Child Welfare Center for Innovation and Advancement is a discretionary federal funding opportunity from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), within the Children’s Bureau (ACYF/CB), to create and operate a single national center under a cooperative agreement. The core goal is to strengthen how child welfare cases are handled in courts and legal systems by expanding the capacity of State and Tribal Court Improvement Programs (CIPs) and supporting the broader community of child welfare judges, attorneys, and related legal and judicial partners. In practical terms, the Center is expected to deliver wide-ranging technical assistance that helps courts and legal stakeholders improve practice and decision-making across the full child welfare continuum, including prevention efforts, reunification work, adoption processes, achieving permanency, and the post-permanency period.

A central emphasis of the opportunity is building the ability of technical assistance recipients to meet both current and emerging federal standards and requirements, particularly those tied to titles IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act and related federal regulations. The Center is intended to help systems translate those legal requirements into day-to-day court and legal practice that improves overall system performance and, more importantly, produces better outcomes for children, youth, and families. This includes improving how cases move through the court process, supporting legally sound and timely permanency decisions, and strengthening legal and judicial approaches that can prevent unnecessary family separation when safe and appropriate.

Equity and continuous quality improvement (CQI) are not side elements in this NOFO; they are expected to be built into the Center’s design and operations. That means the Center should incorporate strategies that identify and reduce disparities in legal and judicial child welfare processes and use data, feedback loops, and iterative improvement methods to refine technical assistance over time. The Center is also positioned as a national resource focused on innovation and advancement, which signals an expectation to help legal and judicial systems adopt improved models, tools, and approaches that keep pace with changing policy and practice landscapes.

The award structure is a cooperative agreement, which typically indicates substantial federal involvement during the project period, such as collaboration on priorities, deliverables, and ongoing coordination. The NOFO anticipates one award, with an award ceiling of $3,000,000. The funding opportunity number is HHS 2024 ACF ACYF CZ 0066, and it is associated with CFDA numbers 93.652 and 93.670 under the broader funding activity category of Income Security and Social Services. The application closing date listed is July 2, 2024, and the opportunity was created on May 3, 2024.

Eligibility is broad but clearly defined. Eligible applicants include state, county, and city or township governments; federally recognized Native American tribal governments; tribal organizations; public agencies; public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities; nonprofit organizations (including both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3) entities, excluding institutions of higher education as specified in the eligibility list); for-profit organizations other than small businesses; small businesses; and certain other entities. However, individuals, including sole proprietorships, and foreign entities are explicitly ineligible and will be disqualified from merit review and funding under this opportunity. Faith-based and community organizations are eligible as long as they meet the standard eligibility requirements, and the NOFO states that ACF will not discriminate based on religious character, affiliation, or exercise, consistent with applicable protections and requirements (including 45 CFR Part 87 and 42 U.S.C. 2000bb et seq.).

• The Administration for Children and Families - ACYF/CB in the income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "National Legal and Judicial Child Welfare Center for Innovation and Advancement" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.652, 93.670.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-05-03.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-07-02. (Agency may still review applications by suitable applicants for the remaining/unused allocated funding in 2026.)
• Each selected applicant is eligible to receive up to $3,000,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 1 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Native American tribal governments (Federally recognized), Public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, Native American tribal organizations (other than Federally recognized tribal governments), Nonprofits having a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, Nonprofits that do not have a 501 (c) (3) status with the IRS, other than institutions of higher education, For-profit organizations other than small businesses, Small businesses, Others.

Apply for HHS 2024 ACF ACYF CZ 0066

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