Project Grant H79SM091325

The Department of Health and Human Services Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration awarded The Children's Center Utah $600,000 on September 30, 2026, under the Center for Mental Health Services Projects of Regional and National Significance program (CFDA 93.532) to establish the National Center for Relationship Oriented Organizational Trauma Services (The Roots National Center).

The Roots National Center will improve access to high-quality, evidence-based trauma treatment for infants and young children from birth to age five and their families by strengthening organizational capacity to implement, adapt, and sustain evidence-based trauma treatment and trauma-informed services with fidelity. The center addresses persistent implementation barriers including workforce shortages, staff turnover, limited leadership engagement, fragmented referral pathways, geographic isolation, and inadequate implementation infrastructure, particularly in rural and frontier communities. The project will develop, pilot, evaluate, and disseminate a comprehensive organizational implementation model consisting of three integrated components, including the Early Childhood Trauma Treatment Organizational Readiness Assessment (ECTT-ORA). Child-Parent Psychotherapy (CPP) will serve as the primary demonstration model given its evidence base for children birth to five and applicability to children experiencing complex trauma. The center will also support implementation of other evidence-based trauma treatments and trauma-informed service approaches appropriate for participating organizations.

Performance occurs in Salt Lake City, Utah. The award period runs through September 29, 2031.