CB Discretionary Grant Programs

Discretionary grants are defined as a nonrefundable, budget line grant awarded on a competitive basis. Examples include grants for research, evaluation, program development, and/or technical assistance. Discretionary grants permit the Federal government, according to legislation, to exercise wide latitude and judgment in selecting both the projects to be supported and the recipients.

Adoption Opportunities Program

The Adoption Opportunities program eliminates barriers to adoption and helps to find permanent families for children who would benefit by adoption, particularly children with special needs. The seven major program areas, as mandated by the legislation, are: (1) the development and implementation of a national adoption and foster care data gathering and analysis system; (2) the development and implementation of a national adoption information exchange system; (3) the development and implementation of an adoption training and technical assistance program; (4) increasing the placements in adoptive families of minority children who are in foster care and have the goal of adoption with a special emphasis on recruitment of minority families; and (5) post-legal adoption services for families who have adopted children with special needs; (6) study the nature, scope, and effects of placement of children in kinship care arrangements, pre-adoptive, or adoptive homes; and (7) study the efficacy of States contracting with public and private nonprofit agencies (including community-based and other organizations).

Child Welfare Services Training Program

The Child Welfare Services Training program upgrades the skills and qualifications of child welfare workers through their participation, full-time or part-time, in programs focused specifically on child welfare services. Discretionary grants are awarded to public and private non-profit institutions of higher learning to develop and improve education/training programs and resources for child welfare service providers.

Child Welfare Research and Demonstration Program

The Child Welfare Research and Demonstration program strengthens the family as the primary agent responsible for the developmental needs of children and youth. The Administration for Children, Youth and Families funds research, demonstration, dissemination, utilization and technical assistance activities in four basic areas: child welfare, child care, youth development, and child and family development. The resources budgeted for these four areas address the needs and problems confronting some of the most vulnerable children and families in the country: children in foster care, children in need of adoptive homes, children from poor families who require child care, and vulnerable youth who are runaways or homeless. Since FY 1996 no funds have been appropriated for this program.

Abandoned Infants Assistance Program

The Abandoned Infants Assistance program provides funding for the development of comprehensive service programs to infants and their families to demonstrate strategies to: (1) prevent abandonment; (2) identify and address needs of abandoned infants, especially those with AIDS; (3) assist these children to reside with their biological families if possible, or in foster care; (4) recruit, train and retain foster parents; (5) carry out residential care programs for abandoned children and children with AIDS; (6) establish programs of respite care for families and foster families; (7)recruit and train health and social services personnel to work with families, foster families and residential care staff. Grants are made to public and nonprofit private entities.

Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act Research and Demonstration Project

The Child Abuse Prevention & Treatment Act Research and Demonstration Projects are funds that support research on the causes, prevention, and treatment of child abuse and neglect; demonstration programs to identify the best means of preventing maltreatment and treating troubled families; and the development and implementation of training programs. Grants for these projects are provided nationwide on a competitive basis to State and local agencies and organizations and public or private agencies/organizations. Projects have focused on every aspect of the prevention, identification, investigation, and treatment of child abuse and neglect. CAPTA amendments to the Keeping Children and Families Safe Act of 2003 added a number of new optional areas for research and demonstration projects that may be supported. In FY 2003, approximately $18 million in discretionary funds were awarded to support new and continuing research and demonstration grants, as well as evaluation, technical assistance and information dissemination activities.

Community-Based Family Resource and Support Programs

Under the Community-Based Grants for the Prevention of Child Abuse and Neglect (formerly the Community-Based Family Resource and Support (CBFRS) program and now administratively known as the Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention Grants (CBCAP), discretionary grants may be awarded to selected Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and migrant programs to develop linkages with the statewide CBCAP program and/or to provide services otherwise consistent with the purposes of the CBCAP. These funds must support more effective and comprehensive child abuse prevention activities and family support services, including an emphasis on strengthening marriages and reaching out to fathers, that will enhance the lives and ensure the safety and well-being of migrant and Native American children and their families. In FY 2002, approximately $1.3M in discretionary funds were awarded to support community-based prevention programs for Indian tribes, tribal organizations, and migrant programs. This discretionary grant program also supports a national resource center, "FRIENDS," to assist CBFRS lead agencies for the Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention grants with the development and evaluation of their programs and activities.

Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program

The Infant Adoption Awareness Training Program (IAATP) provides support for developing and implementing new training curriculum and evaluating and adapting existing IAATP training programs and/or curricula to train designated staff of eligible health centers in providing adoption information and referrals to pregnant women on an equal basis with all other courses of action included in nondirective counseling to pregnant women. Discretionary grants are awarded to adoption organizations to carry out this training following best-practice guidelines developed in conjunction with consultants representing the fields of adoption, law, social services, child welfare and health services, as well as adoptive parents. In FY 2001, $8.6 million was awarded to four grantees to implement this new program, which was enacted in October 2000.