Implementation Cooperative Agreements for Expansion of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and their Families Program

The Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Center for Mental Health Services, is accepting applications for fiscal year (FY) 2012 Implementation Cooperative Agreements for Expansion of the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and their Families Program (System of Care (SOC) Expansion Implementation Cooperative Agreements). The purpose of this cooperative agreement is to improve the behavioral health outcomes of children and youth with serious emotional disturbances and their families. This program supports broad-scale operation, expansion and integration of systems of care through the creation of sustainable infrastructure which allows for the provision of and access to required services and supports to ensure the values, principles, and practices comprising the system of care approach to become the primary way in which children’s mental health services are delivered throughout the nation. This cooperative agreement is intended to support the provision of mental health and related recovery support services to children with serious emotional disturbances along with the implementation of systemic changes in policy, financing, services and supports, training and workforce development, and other areas that are necessary for expanding and sustaining the system of care approach, and to accomplish these goals through linkages with other health reform implementation efforts. The goal of the System of Care (SOC) Expansion Implementation Grants is to build upon progress made in developing comprehensive strategic plans to expand and sustain the system of care values and principles to address children and youth with serious mental health conditions and their families. SAMHSA expects that these grants will help facilitate wide scale adoption and operation of the SOC framework (across large geographic regions such as those represented by States, Tribes and Territories) and increase State Medicaid and other third party reimbursement for the SOC spectrum of services and supports. Applicants are expected to implement plans and activities that support comprehensive and sustainable policies, infrastructure, required services and supports consistent with the requirements authorized under Sections 561-565 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. This announcement addresses Healthy People 2020 Mental Health and Mental Disorders Topic Area HP 2020-MHMD. This intent reflects the SAMHSA Theory of Change that takes the development of an innovation through the phases of demonstration, implementation, dissemination, and wide scale adoption. The Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program (i.e., Children’s Mental Health Initiative or CMHI) supports the demonstration of the innovative system of care approach, progresses through these stages, and promotes wide scale implementation. Applicants are expected to create comprehensive and sustainable actions that promote and provide required services, supports and infrastructure that are consistent with the requirements authorized under Sections 561- 565 of the Public Health Service Act, as amended. The SOC Expansion Implementation Cooperative Agreements closely align with SAMHSA’s Recovery Support, Trauma and Justice, and Health Reform Strategic Initiatives by focusing resources on reducing the impact of substance abuse and mental illness on American communities and addressing the behavioral health impacts of trauma through a systematic public health approach.