MaryLee Allen Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program

Objectives: The objectives of the MaryLee Allen Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program (PSSF) are: 1) to prevent child maltreatment among families at risk through the provision of supportive family services; 2) to assure children's safety within the home and preserve intact families in which children have been maltreated, when the family's problems can be addressed effectively; 3) to address the problems of families whose children have been placed in foster care so that reunification may occur in a safe and stable manner; 4) to support adoptive families by providing support services as necessary to that they can make a lifetime commitment to their children. This is accomplished through the issuance of grants to state child welfare agencies, territories, and eligible Indian tribes to serve families at risk or in crisis, to develop or expand and operate coordinated programs of community-based family support services, family preservation services, family reunification services, and adoption promotion and support services. In addition, a portion of funds is reserved for separate formula grants for states and territories to support monthly caseworker visits with children who are in foster care. A small proportion of appropriated funds are reserved for research, evaluation, and technical assistance, which may be awarded competitively through contracts or discretionary grants. Additional funds were appropriated to develop, enhance or evaluate kinship navigator programs for FYs 2018 - 2020. These programs assist kinship caregivers in learning about, finding, and using programs and services to meet the needs of children they are raising and their own needs, and to promote effective partnerships among public and private agencies to ensure kinship caregiver families are served. A small proportion of appropriated funds are reserved for research, evaluation, and technical assistance, which may be awarded competitively through contracts or discretionary grants. In FY 2019, the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Act (P.L. 115-271) authorized a project to replicate and evaluate a recovery coach model that is designed to help reunify families and protect children by working with parents or guardians with a substance use disorder who have temporarily lost custody of their children. The one-time funding remains available through FY 2026. ACF is implementing the project through a contract to be awarded in FY 2020. In FY 2020, additional one-time funds were appropriated through the Family First Transition Act to support the core purposes of both the Stephanie Tubbs Jones Child Welfare Services (93.645) and PSSF Programs, as well as activities directly associated with implementing the Family First Prevention Services Act, and, in applicable jurisdictions, activities previously funded under a child welfare waiver demonstration to reduce any adverse fiscal impacts as jurisdictions transition funding sources for the projects.