Kinship Navigator and Other Family Connection Grant Recipients Announced

Oct 05, 2009

On September 30, 2009, the Children's Bureau announced the recipients of the Family Connection Grants. 24 entities across the country will be provided with grants of up to $1 million for up to three years to implement a range of activities, including kinship navigator programs, that will promote family connections for children involved with or at risk of entering the child welfare system.

Family Connection Grants, authorized as part of the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act, are competitive grants that will allow applicants to create or enhance programs that will connect children in or at risk of entering foster care to their families. State, local, and tribal child welfare agencies and non-profit agencies that have experience serving children in foster or kinship care can apply for the grants to establish or expand Kinship Navigators, Family Group Decision Making, Intensive Family Finding, or Residential Family-Based Substance Abuse Treatment programs. The new law guarantees $15 million for each fiscal year between 2009 and 2013 for these grants, including $5 million annually that is set aside for Kinship Navigator programs. The Secretary of Health and Human Services may allow up to 30 new grants each year, provided new funding is not already committed to existing grants. Individual grants may not be for less than one year or more than three years. For more information, see Chapter 3 of New Help for Children Raised by Grandparents and Other Relatives Questions and Answers About the Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act of 2008.