Federal Block Grant Award Summary

The North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services received a $990,318 Block Grant award from the Administration on Children, Youth and Families for the Title IV-E Guardianship Assistance Program (CFDA 93.090) effective October 1, 2025 through September 30, 2026. This program provides financial assistance payments to relative guardians who assume legal guardianship of eligible children transitioning from foster care, thereby removing financial barriers to permanency and enabling children to establish secure, legally recognized family placements with relatives.

The grant funds are distributed through sub-awards to 12 North Carolina county departments of social services, including New Hanover, Caldwell, Chatham, Cumberland, Buncombe, Alexander, Wake, Mecklenburg, Rutherford, Orange, Robeson, and McDowell counties. These county-level sub-recipients administer the guardianship assistance payments directly to relative guardians and provide associated case management and child welfare services. The program operates on a quarterly reimbursement basis whereby counties submit estimated expenditures that are later reconciled to actual allowable claimed expenses, with final determinations made by the Administration for Children and Families headquarters office.