Summary
overview of ACF as a funding source for research in child welfare and/or child care
Department of Health and Human Services – Administration for Children and Families
ACF funds projects and initiatives that aim to “promote the economic and social well-being of families, children, individuals and communities”.
Eligibility: varies by specific grant but typically includes nonprofit and for-profit organizations, government, educational and public housing groups. Some opportunities allow institutions of higher educations to apply.
Sample of Existing opportunities: Child Welfare Research Partnerships, Child Care Policy Research, Home Visiting Programs, Prevention Serves Evaluation services. Two very popular grants (Early Care and Education Research: Head Start and Child Care Dissertation Grants) are also funded through ACF.
Funding for programs varies drastically. Some partnership or implementation awards range from 100,000 to 350,000 while others are from 800,000 to 1,600,000. Secondary data analysis research awards range from 75,000 to 100,000 each.
Key areas of interest funded by ACF center around childcare and early childhood education, as well as the child welfare system.
A summary of some ACF grants can be found here: https://researchconnections.org/federal-research-efforts/projects
Applications require a grants.com account and be started here: https://www.grants.gov/applicants/applicant-registration
https://www.grants.gov/applicants/grant-applications/how-to-apply-for-grants
Some examples of previous grant funded projects include
Facilitating Continuity in Subsidized Care within Maryland: which aimed to “Describe longitudinal patterns in the continuity of subsidy spells and identify differences in these patterns by child, family, and community characteristics – Examine the association between use of high quality care and continuity in subsidized care arrangements – Determine whether Maryland’s shift to a private, centralized subsidy case management system is associated with changes in the length of (family) eligibility periods as well as voucher length.”
https://researchconnections.org/childcare/resources/26741
Child Care Choices of Low Income Families with Vulnerabilities: which aimed to explore choice in child care and understand contextual factors that affect this decision. It was a three year project focusing on families with special needs children, children at risk of maltreatment or parents receiving TANF.