The purpose of this Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) is to solicit proposals for projects that will advance Federal priorities while supporting workforce development initiatives at the State and National levels.

This targeted 5-year cooperative agreement is to be awarded to create a national

credit:

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center of excellence to develop, implement and evaluate curriculum in child welfare agency settings that will:
Support the child welfare workforce to better understand social and emotional needs of children and families involved in the child welfare system.

Support the child welfare workforce to better screen and assess for social and emotional needs of children and families.

Support the child welfare workforce to understand the effective interventions and active ingredients of those interventions and how to ensure children and families receive those interventions.

Increase exposure to active ingredients and Evidence Based Practices for agency staff through enhanced curriculum and practicums.

Provide professional development opportunities for agency staff by developing, delivering, and evaluating course offerings, continuing education, and certificate programs aimed at addressing the shortage of child welfare practitioners prepared to deliver evidence based child and family treatment.

Provide curriculum aimed at assisting case managers to make excellent decisions about how to refer and evaluate the effectiveness of the services provided to the children and families in their care.

Develop decision making tools for agency leadership that might assist them in assessing their current mental health service array.

These tools would provide direction about the cost and effectiveness of the mental health services in their current service array, assist the administrator in evaluating if the current mental health services are achieving intended outcomes, and provide guidance on best practice in implementing evidence based treatment services.