National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative Extended Federal Funding for Five Years

 The Center for Adoption Support and Education (C.A.S.E.) has been awarded a 5-year, $10 million Cooperative Agreement from the Children’s Bureau (CB), Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) starting September 30, 2022 and continuing through September 29, 2027. The purpose of this award is to continue to scale the web-based National Adoption Competency Mental Health Training Initiative (NTI) to remaining states in the nation, refine and update the curriculum as needed and perform an updated evaluation regarding current use and impact of the curriculum.

The NTI has developed two free, state-of-the-art, standardized, web-based trainings to build the capacity of child welfare and mental health professionals in all states, tribes, and territories to effectively support children, youth, and their foster, adoptive and guardianship families. NTI trainings were piloted with over 9,000 child welfare and mental health professionals in 2017 and 2018 and launched nationally in 2019 with more than 20,000 professionals enrolled to date. Currently, 29 state child welfare systems are hosting or using NTI trainings to support the workforce development of their staff. This new agreement will allow us to provide implementation support to the remaining states and to expand NTI usage by mental health systems nationally.

C.A.S.E. CEO Debbie Riley stated, “NTI is essential in building a workforce nationally that can more effectively respond to the complex behavioral health issues of our most vulnerable children especially during this time of the mental health crisis facing our nation. I am deeply appreciative of this vibrant 7-year collaboration with the Children’s Bureau for their recognition and support of the impact of this critical initiative.” This new funding will support updating the training so that it remains state of the art and relevant, continued implementation and expansion of NTI with child welfare and mental health provider systems as well as continued evaluation of the training. We are please to announce our partners in this initiative: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Center for Families, Children, and the Law, FosterClub, Family Equality, and PolicyWorks along with our National Advisory Board who will lend their expertise.

C.A.S.E. is a nationally recognized leader in mental health services for the adoption and foster care community. The nonprofit organization’s mission is to improve the lives of children who have been adopted or are in foster care and their families through counseling, lifelong education, and a growing national network of trained professionals. With seven offices across Northern Virginia, Maryland, and New York, C.A.S.E. has provided clinical services for more than 6,200 clients and their families since its founding in 1998. Visit www.adoptionsupport.org to learn more.