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The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation (OPRE) is soliciting applications for Behavioral Interventions Scholars grants to support dissertation research by advanced graduate students who are using behavioral science approaches to examine specific research questions of relevance to social service programs and policies. These grants are meant to build capacity in the research field to apply a behavioral lens to issues facing poor and vulnerable families in the United States, and to foster mentoring relationships between faculty members and high-quality doctoral students. Applicants are required to demonstrate the applicability of their research to practice or policy serving low-income children, adults, and families, especially those that seek to improve their well-being.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement's Unaccompanied Refugee Minors program within the Administration for Children and Families provides child welfare services and benefits to children eligible for placement, services and benefits under 8 U.S.C. § 1522(d)(2). As it exists today, the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors program provides such youth with the same range of child welfare benefits and services available to other foster children in the state of placement, including services identified in a state’s plans under titles IV-B and IV-E of the Social Security Act, such as associated independent living benefits and services. The existing program is funded through grants to states and is subject to state child welfare laws and regulations.The ATS URM program will provide time-limited transitional placement, benefits, and services to assist older youth eligible for the Unaccompanied Refugee Minors program to obtain the skills necessary for economic self-sufficiency and independent living.

The AABC Foundation, was established in 1994 by American Association of Birth Centers to advance public knowledge and understanding of issues related to family-centered childbirth. The foundation raises funds to support the advancement of the AABC birth center model as the standard to improve maternity and women's health care. Based on wellness model of pregnancy and birth, the birth center is a homelike facility, operating with a healthcare system. Birth centers are guided by principles of prevention of complication, sensitivity to the needs of the individual family, safety for both mother and baby, appropriate use of medical intervention, and cost effective care. Birth centers provide family-centered care for healthy women before, during, and after normal pregnancy, labor, and birth. To advance its mission, the foundation will award grants of up to $5,000 to support research projects on issues related to the birth center model of care. The program is open to individuals or organizations and nonprofit status or sponsorship is not required. However, applicants must demonstrate capacity and a plan to complete the research in accordance with the project's timeline.

The Administration for Children and Families, Administration on Children, Youth and Families' Family and Youth Services Bureau announces the availability of funds under the Sexual Risk Avoidance Education (SRAE) Program. The purpose of the SRAE Program is to fund projects to implement sexual risk avoidance education that teaches participants how to voluntarily refrain from non-marital sexual activity. The services are targeted to participants that reside in areas with high rates of teen births and/or are at greatest risk of contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs). The goals of SRAE are to empower participants to make healthy decisions, and provide tools and resources to prevent pregnancy, STIs, and youth engagement in other risky behaviors. Successful applicants are expected to submit program plans that agree to use medically accurate information referenced to peer-reviewed publications by educational, scientific, governmental, or health organizations; implement an evidence-based approach integrating research findings with practical implementation that aligns with the needs and desired outcomes for the intended audience; and teach the benefits associated with self-regulation, success sequencing for poverty prevention, healthy relationships, goal setting, and resisting sexual coercion, dating violence, and other youth risk behaviors such as underage drinking or illicit drug use without normalizing teen sexual activity.

The purpose of this program is to reduce fatal and serious injuries among infants, children, and youth by supporting collaborative improvement among Title V agencies working to address child safety, including sudden unexpected infant deaths (SUID) and bullying. The program will accomplish this through two components: (1) providing capacity building services to Title V agencies in implementing effective child safety interventions in priority topic areas that are responsive to common state performance measures identified in the Title V State Action Plans; and (2) maintaining a coalition of national, state, and local agencies and other key stakeholders that support improvements in the adoption of evidence-based policies, programs, and practices. For the purposes of this notice of funding opportunity (NOFO), the term child safety applies to children ages 0-19 years nationally, and includes reductions in injury-related deaths, hospitalizations, and emergency department (ED) visits; SUID; and bullying. CSN will serve as the principal technical assistance provider to Title V agencies in their improvement efforts to address injury-related National Performance Measures (NPMs) pertaining to injury hospitalization (NPM 7), safe sleep behaviors (NPM 5), and bullying prevalence (NPM 9).

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE), will solicit applications for Family Strengthening Research Scholars grants to support dissertation research on healthy marriage/responsible fatherhood policy issues. These grants are meant to build capacity in the research field to focus on questions that have direct implications for healthy marriage/responsible fatherhood policy decision-making and program administration, and to foster mentoring relationships between faculty members and high-quality doctoral students. These grants are intended to address issues of significance to inform policy decisions and solutions, particularly for underserved/understudied populations (e.g., low-income families, minority populations), utilize rigorous research methodology (including primary data collection and/or secondary data analysis), and help inform the development of future intervention research. For further information about OPRE, see http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/. For information about previous Family Strengthening grantees, see https://www.acf.hhs.gov/opre/research/project/family-strengthening-scholars.

The purpose of this program is to more effectively respond to the needs of children, youth, and young adults with serious emotional disturbances (SED) and their families by providing information, referrals, and support; and to create a mechanism for families to participate in state and local mental health services planning and policy development. This population of focus will hereafter be referred to as children and youth. SAMHSA expects that this program will be a catalyst for transforming mental health and related systems in the state by strengthening coalitions among family organizations and between family members, policy makers, and service providers.

The Brain Research through Advancing Innovative Neurotechnologies (BRAIN) InitiativeSM is aimed at revolutionizing our understanding of the human brain. By accelerating the development and application of innovative technologies, researchers will be able to produce a new dynamic picture of the brain that, for the first time, will show how individual cells and complex neural circuits interact in both time and space. It is expected that the application of these new tools and technologies will ultimately lead to new ways to treat, cure, and even prevent brain disorders.