State-Tribal Partnerships to Implement Best Practices in Indian Child Welfare | HHS 2024 ACF ACYF CT 0056

Opportunity Information: Apply for HHS 2024 ACF ACYF CT 0056

The State-Tribal Partnerships to Implement Best Practices in Indian Child Welfare grant (Funding Opportunity Number HHS-2024-ACF-ACYF-CT-0056) is a discretionary, four-year demonstration grant from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Children’s Bureau (CFDA 93.648). It is built around a clear problem the program is trying to address: American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) children enter foster care at disproportionately high rates (nearly three times as likely as non-Native children). The core intent is to fund a small set of state-tribal demonstration sites that can jointly design, operate, and evaluate culturally appropriate child welfare best-practice implementation models, so the field can learn what actually works and replicate it nationally. In other words, this is not just funding for services; it is funding for implementation, partnership building, and evidence generation about how to improve practice and outcomes for federally recognized AI/AN children while keeping them connected to family, community, and culture whenever safely possible.

A key theme of the opportunity is improving how “active efforts” and other best practices are carried out in real-world Indian child welfare cases, with family preservation and reunification treated as the gold standard. The projects are expected to focus on preventing maltreatment, preventing unnecessary removals from families and communities, and strengthening safety, permanency, and well-being outcomes. Because child welfare for AI/AN children often involves overlapping state and tribal roles, the grant emphasizes intergovernmental partnership models that can tackle longstanding operational and systems barriers, including differences in legal processes, data systems, case practice expectations, and institutional capacity. The expectation is that state and tribal partners will work side by side to craft solutions that fit their communities, rather than applying a one-size-fits-all model.

Funded recipients will function as “demonstration sites” where partners design and implement approaches to strengthen culturally appropriate child welfare best practices across multiple parts of the system. The NOFO explicitly names areas where improvements and measurement may occur, including child welfare practice, Indian child welfare codes, legal and judicial processes, case monitoring and case planning, data collection and data quality, in-home family preservation services, infrastructure, and broader systems change. The program recognizes that sustainable improvement often requires coordinated reforms across agencies and courts, not just training frontline staff. Applicants may also incorporate civil legal services into their implementation strategy when it is part of a pilot or practice model being tested, including assessing whether parties in Indian child welfare cases need legal representation and, where justified, providing direct civil legal services as part of the demonstration approach.

The required partnership structure is central to eligibility and project design. Each application must reflect a collaboration that includes, at minimum, the state Court Improvement Program, the state child welfare agency, and one or more tribal governments or tribal consortia, along with the corresponding tribal court or courts. The NOFO clarifies that the “tribal government” partner may be a tribal child welfare agency where that is appropriate under tribal law or custom. It also provides a definition of “tribal courts” consistent with Bureau of Indian Affairs regulations: a court with jurisdiction over child custody proceedings that is either a Court of Indian Offenses, a court established and operated under tribal code or custom, or another tribal administrative body vested with authority over child custody matters. While the Children’s Bureau will accept applications representing partnerships among organizations with relevant experience, the collaboration must name a primary applicant that will administer the award, and additional specialized organizations can participate as subrecipients via subawards or contracts.

In terms of who can apply, the opportunity is open to a range of public and nonprofit entities, including state, county, city/township, special district governments, independent school districts, public and state-controlled institutions of higher education, federally recognized tribal governments, other tribal organizations, public housing authorities/Indian housing authorities, and nonprofits (both 501(c)(3) and non-501(c)(3)). A notable eligibility update in the April 4, 2024 modification is that for-profit organizations and small businesses are excluded. Individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities are not eligible and will be disqualified from merit review. Faith-based and community organizations may apply if they otherwise meet eligibility requirements, and the NOFO states ACF will not discriminate based on an organization’s religious character, consistent with applicable federal protections and rules.

On funding and timing, the NOFO indicates an award ceiling of $500,000 and an expected six awards, with applications originally due June 7, 2024. The April 4, 2024 modification also changed the funding opportunity number from HHS-2024-ACF-ACYF-CW-0056 to HHS-2024-ACF-ACYF-CT-0056, and it updated the statutory authority section and the expected number of awards and estimated total funding section. Importantly, the modification notes there were no content changes to the actual application or program requirements, meaning the core expectations about partnerships, demonstration activities, and implementation focus remained the same even though certain administrative and eligibility details were revised.

Overall, this grant is designed to help states and tribes move beyond informal coordination and toward durable, structured, and measurable collaboration. The aim is to improve how Indian child welfare work is carried out across courts, agencies, and tribal systems, strengthen trust and working relationships, and produce credible lessons that can inform broader efforts to maintain and preserve AI/AN families while supporting safe outcomes for children.

• The Administration for Children and Families - ACYF/CB in the income security and social services sector is offering a public funding opportunity titled "State-Tribal Partnerships to Implement Best Practices in Indian Child Welfare" and is now available to receive applicants.
• Interested and eligible applicants and submit their applications by referencing the CFDA number(s): 93.648.
• This funding opportunity was created on 2024-04-04.
• Applicants must submit their applications by 2024-06-07. (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 $500,000.00 in funding.
• The number of recipients for this funding is limited to 6 candidate(s).
• Eligible applicants include: State governments, County governments, City or township governments, Special district governments, Independent school districts, Public and State controlled institutions of higher education, 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.

Apply for HHS 2024 ACF ACYF CT 0056

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