Children's Bureau
The Children's Bureau is the first federal agency within the U.S. government and - in fact, the world - to focus exclusively on improving the lives of children and families. The Children's Bureau provides matching funds to states, tribes, and communities to help them operate every aspect of their child welfare systems—from the prevention of child abuse and neglect to the support of permanent placements through adoption and subsidized guardianship. The Catalog of Federal Domestic Assistance is a government-wide compendium of all federal programs that provide assistance or benefits to the American public.
The Children’s Bureau (CB) partners with federal, state, tribal and local agencies to improve the overall health and well-being of our nation’s children and families.
What We Do New CB Video Our Organization |
The Children's Bureau provides guidance to tribes, states, child welfare agencies, and more on the complex and varied federal laws as they relate to child welfare.
Child Welfare Policy Manual Policy/Program Issuances Federal Laws |
Training & Technical Assistance
The Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) Network provides tribes, states, courts and other facets of the child welfare system with assistance in meeting federal requirements, reaching desired outcomes, using monitoring systems and more to promote safety, permanency and well-being for children and families. Specifically, the T/TA Network provides T/TA, research and consultation on an array of federal requirements such as the Child and Family Services Reviews.
Many requests for T/TA are made to Regional ACF offices. For a list of Regional ACF offices and the states they serve, visit the ACF Office of Regional Operations.
For a full list of T/TA Network members and their contact information, view the Children’s Bureau Training and Technical Assistance Network Directory (2013).
Tribal and State Grant Programs
The Children's Bureau provides matching funds to tribes, states, and communities to help them operate every aspect of their child welfare systems—from the prevention of child abuse and neglect to the support of permanent placements through adoption and subsidized guardianship.
Title IV-E Programs Title IV-E Adoption Assistance Title IV-E Guardianship Assistance
John H. Chafee Foster Care Independence Program |
Title IV-B Programs Promoting Safe and Stable Families: Title IV-B, Subpart 2 of the Social Security Act
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The Children's Bureau uses a competitive peer review process to award discretionary grants for research and program development to state, tribal and local agencies; faith- and community-based organizations; and other nonprofit and for-profit groups. The following provides additional information about the Children’s Bureau’s discretionary grant programs:
The Children’s Bureau issues awards to states for increasing the number of children from foster care who are adopted. This document provides the cumulative adoption incentive awards earned by states from fiscal year 1998 through fiscal year 2011.
Click on this link to download the document: Adoption Incentive Awards History.PDF
Child Welfare Waiver Demonstration Projects
The Child Welfare Waiver Demonstration authority provides states with an opportunity to use federal funds more flexibly in order to test innovative approaches to child welfare service delivery and financing. Using this option, states can design and demonstrate a wide range of approaches to reforming child welfare and improving outcomes in the areas of safety, permanency, and well-being.
Child Welfare Waiver Demonstration Projects for Fiscal Years 2012-2014 ACYF-CB-IM-12-05
This Information Memorandum (IM) announces the Child Welfare Demonstration Projects for Fiscal Years (FYs) 2012- 2014.
Title IV-E Child Waiver Demonstration Project Proposals
Proposals were submitted by states for consideration as new Child Welfare Waiver Demonstration projects under Section 1130 of the Social Security Act. All proposals are now undergoing review by federal staff to determine whether they meet statutory requirements and respond to the priorities outlined in ACYF-CB-IM-12-05. Details of the proposed demonstrations are subject to revision and refinement in response to comments, technical assistance, and negotiation between the states and the federal government prior to final approval.
To help states achieve positive outcomes for children and families, the Children’s Bureau monitors state child welfare services through the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSRs), title IV-E foster care eligibility reviews, the Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) assessment reviews, and the Statewide Automated Child Welfare Information System (SACWIS) assessment reviews.
Using information collected through various monitoring and reporting systems, the Children's Bureau analyzes and reports data on a variety of topics, including adoption, foster care, and child abuse and neglect.
Adoption and Foster Care Statistics
Child Welfare Outcomes
Child Maltreatment Report
The Children’s Bureau supports the development of state and tribal child welfare reporting systems to enable the collection and analysis of important information about children and families, as well as improve case practice and management.
The Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS)
The National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System (NCANDS)