Foster/Adoptive Parent Preparation, Training and Development Initiative

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IMPORTANT UPDATE (5/2/2016): This funding opportunity announcement (FOA) has been modified. The new closing date for this FOA is July 11, 2016. The following changes have been made throughout this FOA: - The target population has been narrowed to focus on older youth; - Cultural competence and culturally appropriate language has been added; - Trauma informed language has been added; - The word “relative” has been replaced by the term “kinship”; and - “Tribal Consortia” was added as an entity for which this curriculum could be used. The following changes have been made in Section I. Program Description: - The Indian Child Welfare Act (P.L. 95-608) was added to the federal guidance and legislative requirements; - Descriptive language on the background of Administration on Children, Youth & Families (ACYF) and the Children’s Bureau (CB); - Detailed information on resource parents has been added; - The use of six to eight pilot sites has been specified; - The need to include kinship and foster parents that self-identify as LGBTQ; - Development curriculum language has been updated (in Section V.1. Criteria as well); - The term “agile development” is defined and used throughout this section (it is also addressed in Section IV.2. The Project Description and Section V.1. Criteria); - Incorporation of dissemination activities has been added (in Section V.1. Criteria as well); and - Grantee requirements have been updated in Phase I: Planning and Information Gathering and Phase II: Development, Implementation and Evaluation. The following changes have been made in Section II. Federal Award Information: - The funding levels and length of project period have been updated. The following change has been made in Section IV.2. Required Forms, Assurances and Certifications: - The Protection of Human Subjects Assurance Identification / IRB Certification / Declaration of Exemption (Common Rule) has been added to the list of required forms to be submitted with the application. The following changes have been made in Section IV.2. The Project Description: - Language related to the three evaluations expected in the project has been updated (in Section V.1. Criteria as well). The following change has been made in Section VIII. HHS Awarding Agency Contact(s): - The Program Office Contact has been changed to Jan Shafer. The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement (FOA) is to award one cooperative agreement to develop a state-of-the-art foster/adoptive parent training program to include intensive preparation and development of culturally appropriate, trauma informed components that reflect the capacities required of successful foster, adoptive, guardianship, and kinship parents (referred to in the remaining document collectively as resource parents) to successfully work with older youth who have moderate to serious behavior health challenges who require intensive and coordinated services and who may be at risk for more restrictive placements. This curriculum and training program will not replace a traditional resource parent training curriculum, but build specialized knowledge and skills so that the resource parent becomes one of the critical change agents in the older youth’s treatment plan. Development of this program would include thorough research on the characteristics of resource families that have been successful in providing placement stability and enhancing the well-being of older youth. This is intended to be a product that could be utilized by all states, tribes, tribal consortia, and territories and consistently applied wherever implemented. The training program would be inclusive of development, training, and capacity needs of resource parents that are interested in becoming foster parents, those interested fostering with the intention to eventually adopt, or to become legal guardians to older youth There is consensus across multiple stakeholders that most children and youth are best served in a family setting. Resource parents play a critical role in treatment interventions to older youth with specialized needs as they are available to the young person at all times for support, treatment intervention, crisis stabilization, and connection to the community and school. In the effort to maintain older youth in family settings and engaged productively in their communities, resource parents must have advanced knowledge and skills. The project period for this cooperative agreement is 3 years with three 12-month budget periods. CB anticipates that the funding level will be up to $750,000 per year.

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