National Resource Center for Child Welfare Organizational Improvement

The purpose of this funding opportunity announcement is to establish by cooperative agreement a National Resource Center for Child Welfare Organizational Improvement (NRCOI). The NRCOI will serve as a member of the Children's Bureau's Child Welfare Training and Technical Assistance Network (T/TA Network). The T/TA Network is designed to improve child welfare systems and to support States and Tribes in achieving sustainable, systemic change that results in greater safety, permanency, and well-being for children, youth, and families. The NRCOI will be the primary provider of T/TA to build the organizational capacity of State, local, Tribal and other publicly supported child welfare agencies in order to improve the outcomes of child welfare activities and to achieve the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) goals of safety, permanency and well-being of children and youth. This purpose will be accomplished by providing T/TA and consultation to child welfare agencies to strengthen, enhance, and focus their efforts to develop agency management structures and systems that improve their ability to administer Title IV-B and Title IV-E child welfare programs, including the development of program improvement plans (PIPs) in response to the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs). The NRCOI will focus on activities that will improve the outcomes of children, youth and families who are involved in the State or Tribal child welfare system by: Improving agency management and operations; Bolstering organizational capacity; and Promoting service integration.