The NOFO provides the following guidance under Program Services (pp. 6—8):
Projects may include any or all of the six eligible services described below. Within each, CB encourages innovation. The examples below show types of services that recipients could provide. You may propose other services within these categories.
Evidence-Based Clinical Services
- Assessment and diagnosis of mental health conditions
- Individual, group, and family therapy, including cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectical behavior therapy, and play therapy
- Occupational therapy to help children with sensory issues
- Emergency mental health services for children in crisis
Foster Parent Training and Curricula
These services help foster families and potential adoptive families to understand the needs of children who have experienced trauma, such as the following:
- The changes in children’s bodies, brains, behaviors, and belief systems that come with experiencing trauma
- The need to build nurturing, trusting relationships with safe boundaries with trusted adults
- The need to address the whole child and their unique needs
- The need to correct behavior by focusing on the behavior, not the child
Volunteer Support Services for Foster Parents
These services provide direct support for foster parents and caregivers. Examples include the following:
- Respite care to give foster parents time to meet their own needs and engage in self-care
- Matching foster parents with mentors or support groups with experience caring for children with complex needs
- Organizing volunteers to help with transportation for children to appointments, meals for the family, or the collection of donations of clothing, toys, and other supplies
- Resilience-building programs that help foster parents manage the challenges they face
Positive Biological and Birth Family Engagement
These services help support biological family reunification, where possible. Examples include the following:
- Building supportive relationships between the child, foster family, and biological family
- Connecting biological families to concrete, economic, and other available supports within the community
- Managing regular communication, which may include phone calls, emails, and visits as well as coordinating family therapy or other supports, case planning and decision-making, and coparenting.
Enrichment Activities for Children
These services provide opportunities for creative expression and building social skills. Examples include the following:
- Art or music therapy to allow children to express themselves, which can help them to reduce stress and process their emotions and experiences in a safe, supportive environment
- Outdoor activities, such as hiking, gardening, and nature walks, which can help children connect with nature and find a sense of peace and calm
- Sports and exercise to help children release energy, relieve stress, and build self-confidence
- Mindfulness practices, such as meditation, breathing exercises, and yoga, to develop self-awareness and self-regulation skills
Trauma-Informed Systems Work
This work coordinates community services to prevent, identify, and address trauma. Examples include the following:
- Building networks of local child-serving systems. These include health care, education, social services, juvenile justice, and community organizations. Collaborations develop systems that are more responsive, compassionate, and effective.
- Specific focus areas might include standardized screening and assessments, measurement-driven case planning, treatment referral processes, changes to data systems, and more.
- Training to better understand, recognize, and intervene with the impacts of trauma.
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) does not provide direct guidance or instruction in the development of an applicant’s project design or on the writing of their applications. Applicants should use their best judgment in determining whether they are able to meet the requirements contained in the NOFO, in determining whether they are able to develop an application they believe to be responsive to the NOFO, and in designing and writing their applications. Applications will be reviewed and evaluated by objective review panels using the criteria described in the NOFO. Review panels will use the NOFO as the principal guidance available to them in the same way that it is the principal guidance for applicants.