Programs

The Children's Bureau seeks to improve the safety, permanency and well-being of children through leadership, support for necessary services, and productive partnerships with states, tribes, and communities. It has the primary responsibility for administering federal programs that support state child welfare services. Additionally, it provides matching federal funds to states, tribes, and communities to help them operate every aspect of their child welfare systems, including the prevention of child abuse and neglect, the support of permanent placements through adoption and subsidized guardianship, and the information systems necessary to support these programs. The funds for these programs come from multiple sources.

State & Tribal Funding

The Children's Bureau provides matching funds to states, tribes, and communities to help them operate every aspect of their child welfare systems, including the prevention of child abuse and neglect, adoption, and the information systems necessary to support these programs.

State & Tribal Child and Family Services Plan

In order to receive federal funding under title IV-B, a 5-year Child and Family Services Plan (CFSP) and annual updates to the plan must be submitted by each state and tribal agency requesting title IV-B funds. The CFSP is a strategic plan that sets forth a state’s or tribe’s vision and goals to strengthen its child welfare system.

Child Welfare Waiver Demonstration Projects

The Child Welfare Waiver Demonstration authority provides states with an opportunity to use federal funds more flexibly in order to test innovative approaches to child welfare service delivery and financing. Using this option, states can design and demonstrate a wide range of approaches to reforming child welfare and improving outcomes in the areas of safety, permanency, and well-being.

Adoption Incentive Awards

The Children’s Bureau provides incentive funding to states that achieve high numbers of adoptions. These funds provide flexibility to states that want to use federal funding to test innovative child welfare programs.

The Adoption Incentives program began in fiscal year 1998 as part of the Adoption and Safe Families Act of 1997 (ASFA) and has since been reauthorized twice (as part of the Adoption Promotion Act of 2003 and, most recently, as part of the Fostering Connections and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008). With each authorization of the program, there have been changes in award calculation and payment amounts. For more information about the program, see Program Instruction ACYF-CB-PI-99-04, Program Instruction ACYF-CB-PI-04-03, Information Memorandum ACYF-CB-IM-04-04, Information Memorandum ACYF-CB-IM-05-01, and Information Memorandum ACYF-CB-IM-09-03.

Adoption Incentive Awards History - Includes the cumulative Adoption Incentive earning history by state from fiscal year 1998 to fiscal year 2011