ACF Awards $2.2 Million to Modernize Child Welfare Licensing Infrastructure

In an ongoing effort to advance A Home for Every Child and improve outcomes for children and families, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) today announced 14 child welfare jurisdictions will receive between $54,000 and $200,000 in Licensing Infrastructure Modernization for Child Welfare grants. These grants will help expedite foster family licensure and placements by making fingerprinting more accessible and convenient for caseworkers while also supporting improvements to background check systems to reduce delays, streamline administrative processes, and help agencies meet federal requirements that enhance the safety of children.

"Across the country, outdated equipment and technology, along with inefficient systems, have slowed required background checks during the placement process. These barriers can hold up the approval of qualified kin, foster families, and prospective adoptive parents - making it harder for children to be placed quickly in safe and loving homes," said ACF Assistant Secretary Alex J. Adams. "ACF is proud to award the 14 jurisdictions with resources to expand technology to help expedite the placement process with the goal of achieving A Home for Every Child."

ACF has awarded these Licensing Infrastructure Modernization for Child Welfare grants to Alaska, District of Colombia, Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Georgia, Fort Belknap Indian Community, Oklahoma, Kawerak, Inc., Knik Tribe, Mississippi, Nebraska, Oregon, Vermont, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming.

"This investment strengthens Alaska's statewide capacity by bringing modern, mobile fingerprinting tools directly to our state's rural and remote communities," said Tracy Dompeling, Commissioner of the Alaska Department of Family and Community Services. "By reducing delays and expanding access, we are improving outcomes for children and families and advancing our commitment to timely, safe placements."

Each award will be used to identify gaps in current technology and business processes, purchase and deploy compliant fingerprinting equipment and services, train staff on new systems and workflows, establish performance measures, and develop sustainability plans to maintain improvements over time. These systems changes will support states in their efforts to achieve A Home for Every Child and improve their ratio of foster home to children in foster care by expediting the licensure and placement processes.

"Utah is honored to receive this important grant to help our child welfare modernization efforts," said Tracy Gruber, Commissioner of the Utah Department of Health and Human Services. "The funding award will help reduce fingerprint-based background deck delays, especially for rural and high-barrier households, facilitate quicker kinship safety assessments at the point of crisis, expand our state's active pool of licensed caregivers, and help us make progress toward the federal A Home for Every Child initiative."

ACF looks forward to working with each jurisdiction as they implement new technology and systems, making fingerprinting more accessible and background checks less burdensome so children can be placed with safe, stable, and nurturing homes as quickly as possible.