The Administration for Children and Families, Children’s Bureau announces the availability of awards to provide tribes and tribal consortia the opportunity to compete for grants to enable tribal courts to design and implement projects and/or activities to assess, expand, or enhance the effectiveness of tribal courts and/or legal representation in cases related to child welfare, family preservation, family reunification, guardianship, and adoption.
Donor Name: Administration for Children and Families
State: All States
County: All Counties
Type of Grant: Grant
Deadline: 06/15/2023
Size of the Grant: $150,000
Grant Duration: 60 months
Details:
The grants will provide support to tribal governments to: Conduct assessments of how tribal courts (including courts for tribal consortia) handle child welfare proceedings; Implement changes to address the results of child welfare court assessments; Ensure that the safety, permanency, and well-being needs of children are met in a timely and complete manner; and Continuously improve the quality of court hearings and legal representation, including engagement of parties, through training and efforts to increase substantive and procedural justice. Grant funds may not be used to hire attorneys or judges for regular client representation/on-thebench judicial duties, fill vacant court personnel positions, or otherwise replace funding for tribal government positions.
The purpose of CB’s programs is to promote strengthening of the family unit in order to help prevent the unnecessary separation of children from their families and encourage reunifying families, when possible, if separation has occurred. State and tribal child welfare systems are designed to deliver direct services that protect children who have suffered maltreatment, who are at risk for maltreatment, or who are under the care and placement responsibility of the state and/or tribe because their families are unable to care for them. These systems also focus on securing permanent legal placement with families, such as reunification, guardianship, and adoption for children and youth who are unable to return home.
Goals and Objectives
The goals and objectives of the Tribal Court Improvement Program (TCIP) are to:
- Conduct assessments of how tribal courts (including courts for tribal consortia) handle child welfare proceedings;
- Implement changes to address the results of court assessments;
- Ensure that the safety, permanency, and well-being needs of children are met in a timely and complete manner; and
- Improve the quality of court hearings and legal representation, including engagement of parties, continuously through training and efforts to increase substantive and procedural justice.
Funding Information
- Estimated Total Funding: $943,000
- Award Ceiling: $150,000
- Award Floor: $50,000
Length of Project Periods
60-month project period with five 12-month budget periods
Project Requirements
Program Activities TCIP projects will use grant funds to design and implement a 5-year project. Year 1 must include an assessment of tribal court handling of child welfare proceedings that result in actionable areas and the initial development of strategies in Year 1. Ongoing assessment may extend into Years 2 – 5. In Year 1 the TCIP will identify a team to conduct the assessment. The assessment will include the following:
- Identifying and prioritizing tribal needs.
- Identifying assessment questions.
- Collecting data and information to answer questions identified by the assessment.
- Using the results to inform strategies for improvement.
Program activities may include but are not limited to the following:
- Preparing or supporting tribal courts in collaboration with the tribal child welfare agency, to participate in direct operation of programs authorized by title IV-E of the Social Security Act, including the Foster Care, Adoption Assistance and optional Guardianship Assistance programs.
- Preparing or supporting tribal courts to make necessary judicial determinations required by the title IV-E program;
- Working with the Tribal Title IV-E agency to develop procedures for accessing title IV-E funding to support legal representation for children or parents;
- Enhancing or increasing the tribal court’s ability to receive transfers from state courts;
- Drafting or enhancing court rules, tribal code, legislation, or policy pertaining to court handling of child welfare cases;
- Improving and enhancing court orders;
- Developing, implementing, or piloting best practices, evidence-informed and/or evidence-based practices for tribal courts;
- Developing ways to continuously monitor and improve the timeliness and quality of court hearings and legal representation;
- Enhancing court coordination with other tribal or state government entities on child welfare cases;
- Developing resources for judges and attorneys;
- Creating training curriculum and materials for judges and attorneys;
- Conducting training for judges, attorneys, and other court personnel;
- Conducting cross-training between judges, attorneys, and other tribal and state child welfare stakeholders;
- Designing and testing court models and practices that meet the requirements of federal law; incorporate and reflect tribal values, customs, and practices; and account for historical trauma;
- Building or enhancing court data collection infrastructure;
- Increasing data sharing between the court and the tribal social services agency or state child welfare agency;
- Testing ways to increase and enhance the engagement of the entire family (as defined by the tribe) in court proceedings;
- Implementing strategies to improve equity, for example for persons with disabilities or to reduce inequity based on gender identity or sexual orientation; or
- Implementing strategies to address risk factors known to lead to individuals going missing or being murdered.
Eligible Applicants
Eligibility is limited to Indian tribes or tribal consortia that:
- Are operating an approved title IV-E program in accordance with section 479B of the Social Security Act (the Act) (42 U.S.C. 679c);
- Plan to operate a title IV-E program and/or have received a Tribal Title IV-E Plan Development Grant as authorized by section 476 of the Act (42 U.S.C. 676); or
- Have a court responsible for proceedings related to foster care or adoption.
Tribal governments that were awarded TCIP grants in prior years are eligible to compete for funding under this announcement.
Please note that definitions of Indian tribe and tribal organization are in section 428(c) of the Social Security Act and refer to subsections (e) and (l) of section 4 of the Indian SelfDetermination and Education Assistance Act (25 USC 450b), respectively. These are:
- ‘‘Indian tribe’’ means any Indian tribe, band, nation, or other organized group or community, including any Alaska Native village or regional or village corporation as defined in or established pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (85 Stat. 688) [43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.], which is recognized as eligible for the special programs and services provided by the United States to Indians because of their status as Indians. (l)
- ‘‘tribal organization’’ means the recognized governing body of any Indian tribe; any legally established organization of Indians which is controlled, sanctioned, or chartered by such governing body or which is democratically elected by the adult members of the Indian community to be served by such organization and which includes the maximum participation of Indians in all phases of its activities: Provided, That in any case where a contract is let or grant made to an organization to perform services benefiting more than one Indian tribe, the approval of each such Indian tribe shall be a prerequisite to the letting or making of such contract or grant.
Applications from individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities are not eligible and will be disqualified from competitive review and funding under this funding opportunity.
For more information, visit Grants.gov.
