Child Abuse and Neglect Discretionary Activities

This program improves the national, state, and community activities for the prevention, assessment, identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect through research, demonstration, service improvement, evaluation of best practices, dissemina

This program makes awards to strengthen efforts on prevention, identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect services.

States, local governments, tribes, public agencies or private agencies or organizations (or combinations of such agencies or organizations) engaged in activities related to the prevention, identification, and treatment of child abuse and neglect.

Children that have been abused or neglected, or that are at-risk for abuse or neglect, and their families.

Funds are awarded to : (1) provide technical assistance to public and private nonprofit agencies; (2) conduct research and service demonstration projects to identify, assess, prevent and treat child abuse and neglect, which may include the nature and scope of effective practices relating to differential response, child abuse and neglect issues facing Native American, Alaskan Native and Native Hawaiians, the impact of child abuse and neglect on the incidence and the progression of disabilities; effective approaches to inter-agency collaboration between child protection, juvenile justice and domestic violence providers; (3)research on the incidence, consequences and prevalence of child abuse and neglect, and (4) disseminate information on the incidence, causes, prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect which may include the dissemination of best practices to meet the needs of special populations. Project funds may not be used for construction. This program is funded using available discretionary funding.

Awards are generally available for a 24, 36 or 60-month project period.

Pre-application assistance may be available. Applicants may refer to the Notice of Funding Opportunity on www.Grants.gov for further information.

The criteria for selecting proposals will be published in the Notice of Funding Opportunity.

Each application is reviewed against four factors: eligibility, the application deadline, required electronic submission or waiver requested and approved, and the Award Ceiling. If the application does not meet all of these factors, then it is disqualified from the merit review process. After the initial review, applications are reviewed and evaluated by merit review panels using only the criteria described in the Application Review section of the NOFO. Each panel is composed of experts with knowledge and experience in the area under review. Generally, review panels include three reviewers and one chairperson. While merit review scores and their ranking are not binding, ACF does consider thm when selecting projects for funding. Scores and rankings are only one element used in the award decision-making process. Other criteria are explained in the Program Description section and in the Application Review section of the NOFO. For example, ACF may reserve the right to consider preferences to fund organizations serving emerging, unserved, or under-served populations, including those populations located in pockets of poverty. In addition, ACF reserves the right to evaluate applications in the larger context of the overall portfolio by considering the geographic distribution of federal funds (e.g., ensuring coverage of states, counties, or service areas) in its pre-award decisions. ACF may elect not to fund applicants with management or financial problems that would indicate an inability to successfully complete the proposed project. In addition, ACF may elect to not allow a prime recipient to subaward if there is any indication that they are unable to properly monitor and manage subrecipients. Applications may be funded in whole or in part. Successful applicants may be funded at an amount lower than requested

See latest Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) published on Grants.gov.

The range for approval/disapproval is 90 to 180 days.

Multi-year projects are funded on an annual basis through submission of a non-competing continuation application. Non-competing continuations will be issued based on availability of funds, satisfactory progress, compliance with award terms and conditions and a determination that continuation funding is in the best interest of the federal government.

There is no appeal process for unsuccessful applicants. For existing recipients, appeals may take place in accordance with 45 CFR Part 16, subject to the limitations of the Appendix A.