National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW)

Funded By:  Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Children’s Bureau, and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA)

The National Center on Substance Abuse and Child Welfare (NCSACW) has operated since 2002. Joint funding comes from the Children’s Bureau (CB), Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA), Center for Substance Abuse Treatment (CSAT).

NCSACW strives to improve local, state, and tribal agencies’ services and the safety, permanency, recovery, and well-being outcomes for children and families affected by substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders and child abuse and neglect who are involved with or at risk for involvement with the child welfare and family judicial systems.

Goals include

  • To collect, develop, and disseminate information that increases the capacity of child welfare, SUD treatment, and court professionals to meet the needs of families involved with the child welfare system because of parental substance use or mental health disorders.
  • Improve the health, social and emotional well-being of children and youth who have experienced maltreatment, exposure to violence, or trauma associated with parental substance misuse and mental health challenges.
  • Enhance the use of data-driven decision-making to improve outcomes for children and families and inform the implementation of effective and innovative programs and practices.

NCSACW staff research, compile, and share examples of successful programs to expand best practices in communities across the country. Tailored consultation and support occur via virtual sessions, in-person site visits, and individualized coaching to provide relevant information, resources, publications, guidance, and effective strategies. 

NCSACW has specialized TA programs that provide capacity building and implementation support to strengthen partnerships, sustain innovations, measure performance, and improve outcomes. Through its In-Depth Technical Assistance (IDTA) Program, the Family-Centered Systems Innovation Team (FCSIT) assists states, Tribes, and community partner agencies in implementing the 2016 amendments to the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA) in the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA), Public Law 114-198.

The Family-Centered Systems Innovation Team focuses on improving the safety, health, permanency, well-being, and recovery outcomes of families affected by substance use and co-occurring mental health disorders. This specialized team helps states develop state policies and practice protocols in four critical areas identified in CARA:

  • infants and their families identified as being affected by prenatal substance exposure,
  • the development of Plans of Safe Care (POSC),
  • family-centered practice, and
  • pregnant and post-partum women’s substance use and mental health treatment programs.

NCSACW also provides programmatic TA to the Regional Partnership Grants (RPG) Program, which is administered by the Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), Children’s Bureau (CB), to improve the well-being of children affected by parental substance use disorders. NCSACW provides TA to the RPG awardees on various topics to strengthen grantee implementation of selected interventions. Technical assistance also helps strengthen cross-system collaborative practice and policy, which reduces the duplication of effort and resources. Areas of focus include:

  • Cross-systems collaborative capacity to streamline communities’ and states’ efforts to save resources
  • Program sustainability to ensure outcomes generated through the grant program are integrated into practice
  • Trauma-informed and evidence-based and evidence-informed services to children, parents, and family members to resolve root causes of intergenerational effects of addiction and child abuse or neglect
  • Family-centered substance use and mental health disorder treatment and recovery support services to ensure all members of the families heal and reduce long-term costs to service systems and programs
  • Lasting systems change to institutionalize programs and practices, resulting in reduced costs over time

The Regional Partnership Grants (RPG) Program is administered by the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, Children’s Bureau to improve the well-being of children affected by parental substance use disorders. The RPG projects support interagency collaborations and integration of programs, services, and activities designed to increase the well-being, improve the permanency, and enhance the safety of children who are in, or at risk of, out-of-home placements as the result of a parent or caregiver’s substance use disorder. The partnerships implement a range of activities and interventions, including peer recovery coaching, family-centered substance use disorder treatment, parenting and family strengthening programs, services to pregnant and postpartum women, medication assisted treatment, in-home parenting and child safety support for families, and related evidence-based practices. Since 2007, Children’s Bureau has awarded seven rounds of RPG funding to 127 projects across 40 states, 613 counties, and 11 projects have served or are serving primarily American Indian/Alaska Native families.

NCSACW provides programmatic technical assistance to the RPG grantees on a variety of topics, including collaborative practice and policy, program sustainability, trauma-informed services, evidence-based and evidence-informed services to children, treatment and recovery support services, and family-centered substance use disorder intervention and treatment practices for women and families.

NCSACW’s In-Depth Technical Assistance (IDTA) program advances the capacity of states, tribes, and their community partner agencies to improve the safety, health, permanency, well-being, and recovery outcomes for families affected by substance use disorders. This 18- to 24-month program strengthens cross-system collaboration and linkages among the child welfare and substance use disorder treatment systems and the courts, as well as maternal and infant health care providers, public health providers, early care and education systems, home visiting providers, and other key partners.

For more information about the NCSACW, please contact us at ncsacw@cffutures.org or visit ncsacw.acf.hhs.gov

Learning Opportunities

REQEUST ASSISTANCE

Through federally- and foundation-funded projects, Children and Family Futures and its small business subsidiary, Center for Children and Family Futures, produces publications, reports, Technical Assistance tools and web-based learning for the field. The following are featured resources from our work. For more resources or information related to a specific topic, please visit our resources page or click the “Request Assistance” button below or at the top of the page.