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The Family and Youth Services Bureau (FYSB) provides national leadership on youth and family issues. The Bureau promotes positive outcomes for children, youth, and families by supporting a wide range of comprehensive services and collaborations at the local, Tribal, State, and national levels.
FYSB’s services focus on reducing risks by strengthening families and communities and helping all youth to thrive. Target populations include runaway and homeless youth, victims of family violence, children of prisoners, and youth at risk for early sexual activity.
In its youth programs, FYSB encourages communities to support young people through Positive Youth Development (PYD). Positive Youth Development, or PYD, is based on a body of research suggesting that certain “protective factors,” or positive influences, can help young people succeed and keep them from having problems.
FYSB’s programs to assist America's families and youth include:
- Runaway and Homeless Youth
- Family Violence Prevention and Services
- Mentoring Children of Prisoners
- Teen Pregnancy Prevention
PROGRAM DESCRIPTIONS
Runaway and Homeless Youth Programs
Authorized by the Runaway and Homeless Youth Act, as amended by the Reconnecting Homeless Youth Act of 2008 (Public Law 110-378), FYSB’s Runaway and Homeless Youth Program assists homeless youth, providing basic necessities, reuniting youth with their families when possible, and aiding the transition to adulthood for older homeless youth who cannot return home.
The Runaway and Homeless Youth Program provides four primary services:
1. The Basic Center Program
Through the Basic Center Program, community-based organizations provide short-term shelter (up to 21 days) and address the immediate needs of runaway and homeless youth under the age of 18 and their families. Youth receive emergency shelter, food, clothing, counseling and referrals for health care. Basic Centers seek to reunite young people with their families, whenever it is safe to do so, or to arrange appropriate alternative placements. Program funds are allocated to states using a formula based on the state’s population of youth younger than age 18, according to the latest census data.
2. The Transitional Living Program
The Transitional Living Program for Older Homeless Youth promotes the independence of youth between 16 and 21 years old who are unable to return to their homes. Over a period of up to 21 months (with a provision that allows younger youth to stay until their 18th birthdays), grantees provide housing and a range of services, including life skills training, financial literacy instruction, and education and employment services. Youth might live in group homes or in their own apartments, depending on the program and each young person’s independent living skills. The Transitional Living Program includes maternity group homes that offer an intensive array of services to meet the short- and longer-term needs of pregnant and parenting youth and to prepare them to live independently.
3. The Street Outreach Program
The Street Outreach Program reaches vulnerable youth in unstable living situations. Discretionary grants are made to organizations that conduct street-based education and outreach and offer emergency shelter and related services to young people who have been, or who are at risk of being, sexually abused or exploited.
4. The National Runaway Switchboard
Since 1974, the National Runaway Switchboard has been the official “national communications system” authorized by Congress to help runaway and homeless youth make contact with their families and with service providers. The 24-hour hotline handles approximately 120,000 calls a year.
1-800-RUNAWAY
http://www.1800runaway.org
info@nrscrisisline.org
To complement its runaway and homeless youth services, FYSB’s research and demonstration projects enhance knowledge about key issues in serving young people and build capacity in the youth service field. The Bureau’s Support Systems for Rural Homeless Youth and Rural Host Homes for Basic Center projects are exploring ways to improve support services to runaway and homeless young people in rural communities.
Family Violence Prevention and Services
Reauthorized by the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act of 2010 (Public Law 111-320), the Family Violence Prevention and Services Program awards grants to State agencies, Territories, and Tribes for the provision of shelter to victims of family violence and their dependents, and for related services, such as emergency transportation and child care. These funds supplement many already established community-based family violence prevention and services activities. They also allow States and Tribes to expand current service programs and establish additional services in rural and underserved areas, on Native American reservations, and in Alaskan Native Villages.
The Family Violence Prevention and Services Program’s primary areas include:
1. Family Violence Prevention and Services Grants to States and Territories
The FVPSA formula grants to States and territories fund local public, private, nonprofit and faith-based organizations and programs demonstrating effectiveness in the field of domestic violence services and prevention. These domestic violence programs provide shelter, safety planning, crisis counseling, information and referral, legal advocacy, and a range of supportive services for victims of domestic and dating violence and their children.2. Family Violence Prevention and Services Grants to Tribes
Grantees of this formula program for Tribes provide culturally competent services, including shelter and supportive services, for victims of domestic violence and their dependents. FVPSA funding is available to the 500 officially recognized Native American Tribes including Alaska native Villages; the program currently funds over 200 Tribes and Tribal Organizations.
3. State Domestic Violence Coalitions
FYSB funds FVPSA State Domestic Violence Coalition formula violence programs and serve as the go-to organizations for coordination of statewide services and emerging issues. Every state and some territories have one federally recognized coalition. Go to www.nnedv.org/resources/coalitions.html for a list. Ten percent of the funds appropriated by Congress for FVPSA formula grants are allocated to the coalitions. Each coalition receives an equal share of the funding.
4. Discretionary Programs
Each year, FYSB funds a range of discretionary programs in family violence prevention and services. The programs aim to improve family violence prevention, victim protection, service delivery and design, data collection on the incidence of family violence, and understanding of issues related to family violence. Past funding priorities have included enhancing services for children exposed to domestic violence and runaway and homeless youth experiencing dating violence, eliminating barriers to service for victims of domestic violence with behavioral health issues, and expanding leadership opportunities in the domestic violence field for people from underrepresented groups.5. National Domestic Violence Hotline
The National Domestic Violence Hotline aids victims of domestic violence 24 hours a day. Hotline advocates assist victims, and anyone calling on their behalf, by providing crisis intervention, safety planning and referrals to local service providers. The hotline receives more than 24,000 calls a month.800-799-SAFE (7233)
http://www.ndvh.org6. Family Violence Prevention National and Special Issue Resource Centers
ACF funds ten national resource centers and culturally-specific institutes that provide information, technical assistance, and research findings via toll-free telephone numbers.Health Resource Center on Domestic Violence
888-792-2873, 800-313-1310
http://www.endabuse.orgNational Resource Center on Domestic Violence
800-537-2238
http://www.vawnet.orgResource Center on Child Custody Protection
800-527-3223
http://www.ncjfcj.org/dept/fvdResource Center on Civil and Criminal Law (Battered Women’s Justice Project)
800-903-0111
http://www.bwjp.orgSacred Circle (National Resource Center to End Violence Against Native Women)
877-733-7623
http://www.sacred-circle.comAlianza: The National Latino Alliance for the Elimination of Domestic Violence
800-342-9908
http://www.dvalianza.orgAsian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence APIA Health Forum
415-954-9988
http://www.apiahf.org/apidvinstituteEncuentro Latino National Institute on Family Violence
888-743-7545
http://latinodv.orgInstitute on Domestic Violence in the African American Community
877-643-8222
http://www.dvinstitute.orgNational Immigrant Family Violence Institute
314-773-9090
http://www.nifvi.org
Teen Pregnancy Prevention
Authorized by the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, FYSB’s teen pregnancy prevention programs support state, Tribal and community efforts to promote medically accurate comprehensive sex education, adulthood preparation programs and abstinence education. In these efforts, FYSB works closely with the Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Adolescent Health.
1. State Personal Responsibility Education Program
The State Personal Responsibility Education Program, or State PREP, promotes proven methods for reducing adolescent pregnancy, delaying sex among young people and increasing the use of condoms and other contraceptives among sexually active youth. Formula grants are made to states to help them meet their teen pregnancy prevention goals. Programs must provide medically accurate information, be culturally relevant and age-appropriate, and emphasize both abstinence and contraception as ways to prevent pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections. Programs also prepare youth for adulthood by addressing healthy relationships, adolescent development, financial literacy, parent-child communication, preparation for educational and career success, and healthy life skills. Projects are aimed at youth ages 10-19 as well as pregnant women and mothers under age 21 and their partners.2. Tribal Personal Responsibility Education Program
The Tribal Personal Responsibility Education Program, or Tribal PREP, promotes proven and culturally appropriate methods for reducing adolescent pregnancy, delaying sex among young people and increasing the use of condoms and other contraceptives among sexually active youth. Discretionary grants are made to Tribes to help them combat the disproportionately high rates of teen pregnancy and birth in Indian Country. Programs follow program design guidelines similar to those of State PREP. To ensure that the program honors Tribal needs, traditions and cultures, FYSB conducted a series of public consultations that brought together more than 150 people from more than 30 Tribes.
3. Personal Responsibility Education Innovative Strategies Grant Program
Personal Responsibility Education Innovative Strategies Grant Program, or PREIS, provides discretionary grants to organizations that are using innovative strategies to prevent pregnancy among youth ages 10-19 who are homeless, in or “aging out” of foster care, live in rural areas or in geographic areas with high teen birth rates, or come from racial or ethnic minority groups, as well as pregnant youth and mothers under the age of 21. The program supports research and demonstration programs that develop, replicate, refine and test new models and strategies for preventing teen pregnancy. Programs may include curricula or interventions that are popular in the field, but may not have been rigorously evaluated. Grantees may synthesize differing approaches that are based on some preliminary evidence of effectiveness. Frequently, grantees base their program designs on widely accepted evidence-based programs, which they adapt by adding new and innovative approaches vetted by national experts. All models tested by the grantees must provide medically accurate information tailored to the ages of the young people being served.
4. State Abstinence Grant Program
FYSB’s State Abstinence Program, extended through fiscal year 2014, helps states teach young people the social, psychological and health gains to be realized by abstaining from sexual activity. The formula program aims to prevent teen pregnancy among the most at-risk youth, such as those in or aging out of foster care. The grants enable states to offer abstinence education programs to cultivate young people’s belief in the value of abstinence, strengthen their ability to resist peer pressure and increase their knowledge of how to prevent sexually transmitted infections, including HIV. The programs may also provide mentoring, counseling and adult supervision that promotes abstinence from sexual activity. States are encouraged to develop flexible, effective abstinence-based plans that are responsive to their specific needs. As part of those plans, states must utilize abstinence education models that are evidence-based and medically accurate. FYSB awards abstinence funds to states proportionally, based on the number of low-income children in each state.
Administration on Children, Youth and Families
Family and Youth Services Bureau
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
1250 Maryland Avenue, S.W.
Washington, DC 20024
Phone Number: 202.205.8102
Fax Number: 202.205.9721
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Updated June 2011
Office of Public Affairs (OPA)