Quality Improvement Center on Helplines and Hotlines

Background
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), specifically the Administration on Children, Youth, and Families - Children's Bureau, is issuing a Notice of Funding Opportunity to establish a Quality Improvement Center on Helplines and Hotlines (QIC-H2) through a cooperative agreement. The goal of the QIC-H2 is to build national capacity for community-based helplines to serve as an alternative to child welfare intervention and develop clear, evidence-based understanding of the distinction between poverty and willful parental neglect in child maltreatment assessment.

Grant Details
The QIC-H2 aims to achieve several primary objectives: (A) Build a repository of national models and best practices for the operation of community-based helplines that can link families with needed concrete supports as a primary prevention strategy and an alternative to child protective services (CPS) hotlines.
(B) Develop an evidenced-informed curriculum or supplemental training materials for mandated reporters and hotline staff to overcome bias in decision making and clearly distinguish between poverty and willful parental neglect in child abuse reporting.
(C) Identify and support a limited number of diverse pilot sites with a demonstrated capacity to test selected strategies in their community.
(D) Evaluate funded efforts to measure the QIC-H2’s effectiveness in meeting the goals and objectives of this funding and widely disseminate findings, recommendations, and best practices.

Eligibility Requirements
Eligible applicants include states, Indian tribes, tribal organizations, public agencies, private agencies, or organizations. Faith-based and community organizations that meet the eligibility requirements are also eligible to receive awards under this funding opportunity.

Period of Performance
The project period is 60 months with five 12-month budget periods. The anticipated project start date is 09/30/2024.

Grant Value
$2,500,000 is the estimated total funding for this grant opportunity. The expected number of awards is 1 with an award ceiling of $2,500,000 per budget period and an award floor of $2,000,000 per budget period.