National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare

Since 2001, CFF has managed the Federally-funded the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW), providing technical assistance and training to States and other agencies in support of their efforts to enhance cross-system collaboration for the benefit of affected families. This has included extensive activities in developing and disseminating information on trends in policy and practice in this field.

Mission of the NCSACW

To improve systems and practice for families with substance use disorders who are involved in the child welfare and family judicial systems by assisting local, State and tribal agencies.

Goals of the NCSACW

NCSACW's goals are to develop and implement a comprehensive program of information gathering and dissemination, to provide technical assistance and to develop knowledge and its application that promotes effective practice, organizational, and system changes at the local, state, and national levels.

Activities of the NCSACW include

  • Creating widely recognized expertise on substance abuse, child welfare, tribal and family judicial systems
  • Gathering and developing specialized knowledge to improve collaboration among the substance abuse, child welfare, tribal and family judicial systems
  • Developing web-based and other technological means of collecting and disseminating current knowledge
  • Assisting communities, policymakers and other professionals to improve practice, procedures and policies

In 2006, CFF received the Outstanding Contractor Award from the Administration for Children and Families for its consistently high quality of work. In addition, CFF staff has established national credibility as experts on the linkages between substance abuse, child welfare, and family/dependency courts.


Visit the National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare.