ACF: ACYF Grant Web: What's New

QIC on Preventing Abuse and Neglect of Infants and Young Children Webinar Script: Draft 5/27/08

SLIDE 1

Hello and welcome to the pre-application webinar for funding opportunity number (FON): HHS-2008-ACF-ACYF-C0-0044: National Quality Improvement Center on Preventing the Abuse and Neglect of Infants and Young Children.

My name is Melissa Lim Brodowski and I work at the Office on Child Abuse and Neglect which is housed in the Children’s Bureau within the Administration for Children and Families at the US Department of Health and Human Services. I am also the Program Contact for this grant announcement.

This webinar is being webcast at both 11:00am and 4:00pm Eastern on Thursday, June 5th, 2008.

SLIDE 2

This webinar is intended to provide prospective applicants with an overview of the program announcement that became public on May 15, 2008 and is currently available on www.Grants.gov and the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) Grants Opportunities webpage at www.acf.hhs.gov/grants. To find the announcement go to www.acf.hhs.gov/grants and click on “Open Funding Opportunities.” Then find the link for “CAPTA National Quality Improvement Center on Preventing the Abuse and Neglect of Infants and Young Children. The direct link to the announcement is also provided on this slide.

The webinar will attempt to clarify common applicant questions by highlighting information in the announcement. All prospective applicants are encouraged to refer back to the program announcement for more detailed information when preparing their applications.

Page numbers in the PDF version of the program announcement, available at the ACF Grant Opportunities website, have been included on the webinar slides for your reference.

SLIDE 3

Federal staff will not be responding directly to the questions of listeners during this webinar. All participant lines will be muted. Listening participants will, however, have the opportunity to send written questions to the Children’s Bureau by email during and after the webinar. Potential applicants may submit questions in response to the webinar until 5:00pm Eastern on Friday, June 6th Questions should be sent to: cb@dixongroup.com Please include the words “Applicant Question 0044” in the subject heading of the email, and please include your name, the name of your organization, and your telephone number in the text of the message.

All questions received prior to 5:00pm Eastern on June 6th will be reviewed by Children’s Bureau staff. A transcript of the webinar and a summary of the questions submitted by the deadline and the Children’s Bureau’s responses will be posted on the ACYF grant review webpage at http://www.acf.hhs.gov/grants/grants_cb.html as soon as they become available. Webinar slides will also be posted on this webpage for applicants’ future reference.

Any questions that a potential applicant has prior to the first webinar or after the pre-application conference question period closes at 5pm on June 6th should be directed to the applicable program or grant contact person in the program announcement.

Again, this is the pre-application webinar regarding funding for the National Quality Improvement Center on Preventing the Abuse and Neglect of Infants and Young Children This will be referred to as the “QIC on Infants and Young Children,” or “QIC” for shorthand throughout the webinar.

SLIDE 4

The legislative Authority for the QIC on Young Children comes from two sources:

Sections 105(b)(5) of the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act, as amended, and
Public Law 100-505, "the Abandoned Infants Assistance Act of 1988," as amended.

Information about the legislation that authorizes and supports the QIC and other child welfare programs can be found on the Children’s Bureau website at: www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb under Laws and Policies.

There will only be one award for this funding opportunity and it will be a cooperative agreement. A cooperative agreement is a specific method of awarding Federal assistance where substantial Federal involvement is anticipated. As described in the grant announcement under Section II “Award Information,” Federal involvement and collaboration includes:

The Children’s Bureau review and approval of planning stages of the project activities before implementation begins;

The Children’s Bureau involvement in the establishment of policies and procedures that maximize open competition, if applicable;

Joint collaboration between the Children’s Bureau and the award recipient in the performance of key programmatic activities;

Close monitoring by the Children’s Bureau of the requirements stated in this announcement; and

Close monitoring by the Children’s Bureau during the project to ensure compliance with the intent of this funding.

To ensure that responsibilities of both parties are understood, a Cooperative Agreement document will be developed incorporating Legislative Authority, Federal regulations and terms and conditions. The document will also identify the duration of the agreement, roles and responsibilities of the grantee and ACYF/CB, and reporting requirements. The Cooperative Agreement document must be signed by the Authorized Official of the recipient organization and the ACYF/CB Program Official.

Expectations for collaboration with Federal staff to successfully complete the goals and objectives of these projects are described throughout the program announcement.

SLIDE 5

The eligible Applicants for the QIC on Infants and Young children include:

State governments
County governments
Public and State-controlled institutions of higher education
Non-profits with 501(c)(3) IRS status (other than institutions of higher education)
Non-profits without 501(c)(3) IRS status (other than institutions of higher education)
Private institutions of higher education
For-profit organizations (other than small businesses)
Small businesses
Special district governments

SLIDE 6

If an application proposes that two or more entities serve as the QIC on Infants and Young Children collaboratively, the application must identify a primary applicant responsible for administering the cooperative agreement

Partnerships are encouraged between organizations with experience and expertise in child welfare, child maltreatment prevention, and early childhood programs.

SLIDE 7

Eligible applicants may apply for a maximum of $1,700,000 in year one and a maximum of $2,000,000 per budget period in years two through five. Applications with requests that exceed the ceiling on the amount of individual awards will be deemed non-responsive and will not be considered for funding under this announcement.

In years two through five the project will allocate at least $1,600,000 to support research and demonstration projects and dissertations and no more than $400,000 will be used by the QIC to administer and manage the project.

The cooperative agreement will be awarded for a project period of 60 months. The initial award will be for a 12-month budget period. Continuation of awards for subsequent 12-month budget periods will be subject to satisfactory progress on the part of the awardee and a determination that continued funding would be in the best interest of the Federal Government. Continuation of awards is also subject to the availability of funds.

SLIDE 8

In terms of the match requirement, the grantees is required to meet a non-Federal share of the project costs. The grantee must provide at least 10% of the total approved cost for the project during each budget period.

The total approved cost of the project can be calculated by dividing the requested Federal share (a maximum of $1,700,000 in year 1) by the divisor .90. The result will be the total project cost, including the applicant’s minimum 10% match.

The non-Federal share may be met by cash or in-kind contributions, although applicants are encouraged to meet their match requirements through cash contributions.

SLIDE 9

The overall purpose of the QIC on Infants and Young Children is to improve the social, physical, behavioral, cognitive, and emotional well-being of children zero to five years old, and their families, who are at risk of abuse and neglect, including those infants and young children impacted by substance abuse and/or HIV/AIDS, by fostering collaborative research and demonstration projects across the child abuse prevention, child welfare, early childhood, and other health, education, and social service systems.

SLIDE 10

And more specifically, there are several important overall goals of the QIC which are:

To develop a national resource for information sharing;
To foster a learning network on the issue of building protective factors and reducing risk factors to prevent child maltreatment for infants and young children and their families;
To strengthen family functioning for those infants and young children impacted by substance abuse and/or HIV/AIDS.;
To support innovative, collaborative, and effective practices at the State and local level that strive to improve the developmental outcomes for the target population;

SLIDE 11

To evaluate the impact of the evidence-based or evidence-informed models or system change efforts undertaken through this project;
To disseminate the lessons learned from this initiative; and
To support doctoral students conducting related research on this topic.

SLIDE 12

We wanted to share with you research findings that provide compelling reasons for the establishment of a National QIC on Infants and Young Children.

First, over the last decade, research in the neurobiological, behavioral and social sciences point to the critical importance of early life and early childhood experiences in shaping the developmental outcomes for children in later life. This issue was were brought to the forefront in the book, From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development (Shonkoff & Phillips (Eds.), 2000).

Other research is finding that exceptionally stressful experiences early in life may have long-term consequences for a child's learning, behavior, and both physical and mental health. The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child at Harvard University has released several reports about the positive and negative effects of toxic stress, which is the severe and chronic adversity infants and young children may experience.

These negative outcomes are also confirmed by the findings from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study (ACE Study), which reveal a powerful relationship between emotional experiences as children and adult emotional health, physical health, and major causes of mortality in the United States.

All this research and information, points to the fact infants and young children who are at greatest risk for abuse and neglect are a particularly vulnerable population that need special attention.

SLIDE 13

Some of the most compelling statistics about the need to focus on the children from the youngest age groups comes from our National Child Abuse and Neglect Data System which reports that:

Children ages birth to one year had the highest rates of victimization.

A special analysis of the data that was a collaboration between ACF and CDC was released this past April in CDC’s Morbidity Mortality and Weekly Report which found that of the children under 1, 84% of the victims under one year were less than one week old

There is also research demonstrating that infants and toddlers are one of the fastest growing groups being served by child welfare and child protective services. This was based on analysis using data from the National Survey of Child and Adolescent Well-Being.

A recently released study funded by the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation found that children birth to three years who have been maltreated are at substantial risk of experiencing developmental delays.

SLIDE 14

Finally, there is also a growing body of research on the effectiveness and cost-benefits of early childhood programs which has identified several interventions and strategies that can help ameliorate or protect against many of the potential negative risk factors for child maltreatment. Some program models that have undergone rigorous evaluations include home visiting, parent education, and early childhood center-based programs.

However, we are also learning that simply identifying evidence-based programs is only the first step in meeting the needs of young children and their families. More attention is needed in order to better understand the factors associated with the successful implementation of these evidence-based programs and practices.

SLIDE 15

Finally, it is important to recognize that there are several Federal and Non-Federal Early Childhood Systems Efforts already underway. Applicants are encouraged to be familiar with the various interagency efforts at the Federal and non-Federal levels as they pertain to the plans they propose in their application.

Much more work is needed to bridge the gaps across all these related efforts to promote maximum efficiency and effectiveness in identifying and supporting evidence-based and evidence-informed programs to prevent child abuse and neglect for infants and young children.

SLIDE 16

The Children Bureau envisions some very specific roles for the QIC given the environmental context of the various research and federal and non-federal initiatives underway.

First of the, the QIC is charged with developing and disseminating knowledge about what works in preventing child maltreatment for infants and young children.

In order to do this, the QIC will explore a broad range of questions and issues about how to improve developmental outcomes for infants and young children. It will also explore what kinds of collaborations and systems are effective and identify how these efforts can result in better outcomes for infants and young children, ages zero to five, and their families at greatest risk for child maltreatment, and how to achieve better outcomes for infants impacted by substance abuse and/or HIV/AIDS to ensure appropriate services to strengthen family functioning.

The QIC will need to engage in a range of activities in order to accomplish those tasks.

SLIDE 17

There are also a number of other questions that may be addressed by the QIC that are of interest to the CB. More detailed questions are available from the announcement on pages 10-13. A few examples of are:

What is currently known and what knowledge gaps exist regarding the successful strategies, and promising practices related to preventing the abuse or neglect of infants and young children, zero to five years old, and their families?

Are there effective prevention models than can impact outcomes at multiple levels (i.e., individual, family, community, societal levels)?

What are the critical factors that support or hinder the implementation and replication of evidence-based and evidence-informed child maltreatment prevention programs for infants and young children?

How can States and counties effectively build cross-agency partnerships and system-linkages to fully address the needs of infants and young children at greatest risk for abuse or neglect?

So- there are multiple-levels of questions which examine individual, family, program, community and systems level questions that may be addressed by the QIC. I will discuss this in more detail in a few moments but the questions of interest to CB does not mean that the QIC has to address ALL the questions. Rather, the questions are provided to offer some ideas to prospective applicants about the possible research topics for the QIC.

SLIDE 18

CB does expect that Research Focus for the QIC will be more narrowly defined within the first year of the project through planning and needs assessment process (p. 10).

During the first year planning phase of this project, the grantee will work collaboratively with CB to decide how to address these questions.

For example, with help from CB and the National Advisory Committee, the grantee will decide whether to take a broad look at a comprehensive set of questions or a more focused approach; which questions the project will answer during the literature review phase of the QIC project and which questions it will answer through implementation and evaluation of research and demonstration projects and dissertation support; and whether to focus its projects on a single region or take a national approach.

Applicants must describe the process they propose to engage in during the planning year to refine and define the focus of the remainder of the project.

SLIDE 19

As mentioned earlier, one of the key features of the QIC's approach is to foster collaboration and research across the child abuse prevention, child welfare, early childhood, health, social service and other child and family service systems. There are a number of ways that this is accomplished, specifically the QICs:

Develop knowledge about evidence-based and evidence-informed strategies aimed at preventing the abuse and neglect of infants and young children; and the provision of services to children of substance abusing and/or HIV/AIDS affected parents;

Promote collaborative problem solving across selected projects and doctoral students receiving dissertation support through the QIC;

Develop and implement early childhood and child abuse prevention research and demonstration projects to promote innovation, evidence-based and evidence-informed practice improvements, and advancement of knowledge about preventing child maltreatment and abandonment and promoting child and family well-being; and promoting family functioning for infants and young children of substance abusing and/or HIV/AIDS affected parents.

SLIDE 20

Establish a national information-sharing network to disseminate information on promising practices; as such, the QIC will become a member of the Children’s Bureau national Training and Technical Assistance Network. However, the QIC will not assume the training, technical assistance, and information dissemination functions and responsibilities currently performed by CB's National Resource Centers, Child Welfare Information Gateway, and other T/TA Network partners.

For more information about our existing Training and Technical Assistance Network, visit the Children’s Bureau webpage at www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb and look under Training and Technical Assistance

Other responsibilities of the QIC are to:

Evaluate the impact of selected projects implementing evidence-based or evidence-informed child abuse prevention programs in reducing the risk of child maltreatment for infants and young children; and

Identify barriers, and recommend/implement changes in policies/procedures/practice.

SLIDE 21

One of the important features of the QIC is that there are two very distinct phases (Phase I Planning and Phase II Implementation) in the work and the applicant’s plan for both phases must be included in the application. I will provide a brief overview of these phases now and will go into more specific details about the tasks to be conducted in each phase in the subsequent slides.

Applicants must submit a design that clearly and concisely describes a strategy for a 12-month planning phase (Phase I) for the development of the QIC.

Approximately nine months after the award, the QIC must submit a draft Phase II A Implementation Plan. This implementation plan must take into consideration the information and knowledge gained through the needs assessment process conducted in the first year. Within one month (month 10), the grantee will make an oral presentation to CB staff in Washington, D.C., describing and defending its Phase II-Version A implementation plan.

One month after that presentation, the QIC must submit a revised implementation work plan (Plan for Phase II - Version B) incorporating the recommendations of CB staff. CB must review this plan and continued funding is contingent upon CB approval of this plan.

In Phase II, the QIC will announce, award, monitor, and evaluate 48-month research and demonstration projects. The QIC will also provide technical assistance (using its own resources or through sub-contracts with other technical assistance providers) to projects supported under this initiative, and will announce, award, and support up to four two-year dissertation research awards to advanced level doctoral students conducting research in this area.

SLIDE 22

I will now review the specific activities that the QIC will need to understake in the Phase I: Planning Phase

a) Form a National Advisory Committee that will assist in the following tasks: setting the goals and priorities for the QIC; selecting the focus topic for the QIC; defining research, practice and policy issues pertaining to the topic; developing the Phase II implementation plan; and providing feedback on the plans and activities conducted by the QIC.

b) Conduct a comprehensive needs assessment that describes and evaluates the effectiveness of current efforts aimed at preventing abuse, neglect or abandonment of infants and young children and identifies service gaps, knowledge gaps, and other issues related to the effective collaboration and coordination across multiple systems serving their families.

c) Conduct a literature review that provides a comprehensive analysis of the research and promising practices nationally and regionally on preventing abuse and neglect in infants and young children, including those impacted by the substance abuse and/or HIV/AIDS of their parents.

SLIDE 23

d) Fine tune the work plan and evaluation plan. In the implementation phase (Phase II), the QIC will focus on four years of research/demonstration projects. Therefore, the work plan has to be of sufficient scope and magnitude to support intensive investigation.

e) Develop a process for soliciting and reviewing applications, and selecting and providing dissertation support for doctoral student research on this topic. The applicant must propose a plan to provide dissertation support for up to four doctoral students for two-years at $25,000 each per year. These awards must support doctoral students who have advanced standing in their respective doctoral programs.

SLIDE 24

So, in Phase I, the QIC must develop and submit a Phase II - Version A implementation plan for announcing, awarding, monitoring and evaluating research and demonstration and dissertation support.

Applicants must submit a preliminary design for Phase II - Version A in the application that presents a clear and comprehensive vision of how the proposed QIC would operate. Applicants must describe the approach and processes that it would use to develop the implementation plan and address anticipated logistical and administrative issues.

As stated earlier, the Phase II - Version A plan is due approximately nine months after the award of the cooperative agreement. A presentation to the Children’s Bureau needs to be made in month 10. The QIC cannot move forward with implementation until the Children’s Bureau has reviewed and approved the Phase II plan. As I also mentioned earlier, continuation funding for Year 2 is contingent on this approval

SLIDE 25

Now, I will describe the specific Phase II – Version A Implementation Plan Components:

1. Comprehensive review of the literature developed during the planning phase (Phase I).

2. Conceptual framework or logic modeldescribing the linkages between and among (a) attributes of the populations, problems, conditions, and systems that are the target of the interventions; (b) strategies; (c) resources; (d) traditional and innovative services/strategies to be provided; and (e) anticipated short- and long-term outcomes.

3. Administrative structure for soliciting proposals, reviewing and selecting research and demonstration projects and dissertation support, including program description, eligibility, application evaluation criteria, and selection process. Eligible applicants for research and demonstration projects and dissertation support will be specified in these solicitations.

SLIDE 26

4. Technical assistance to prospective candidates to assist them in proposing projects that meet the standards for research and demonstration projects supported under this initiative.

5. Limited technical assistance to doctoral students seeking support for their dissertations. At a minimum, this assistance should involve screening the topic being proposed by the student to insure that it is relevant to the overall goals and purpose of the QIC.

6. Technical assistance to projects selected for support by the QIC. The QIC will be required not only to monitor the operations of the projects, but also to provide ongoing support, guidance, and technical assistance to assist them in project implementation, data collection, and evaluation.

SLIDE 27

7. Administrative and management structure for ensuring that projects are implemented within 90-days of their selection by the QIC and monitoring projects and dissertations supported under this initiative.

8. Mechanisms for forming and maintaining a consortium andinformation-sharing networkconsisting of partnerships with and among sites and doctoral students receiving awards sponsored by the QIC.

9. Methodology for evaluating the research anddemonstration projects, including ensuring that projects and participating agencies and organizations collect appropriate qualitative and quantitative process and outcome data.

SLIDE 28

10. Strategy for information dissemination, including fostering and strengthening communication and coordination activities with the National Advisory Group and CB's TTA Network.

11. Links with appropriate agencies, organizations, and resources on the local, State, or Federal levels that address issues pertaining to the prevention and treatment of child abuse and neglect, including the Community Based Child Abuse Prevention Program (CBCAP) grantees and the FRIENDS National Resource Center for CBCAP.

12. A detailed budget for years two through five, allocating at least $1,600,000 for research and demonstration projects and dissertation support, and showing how the balance ($400,000 or less) would be used to operate the QIC.

SLIDE 29

Because this is a cooperative agreement, I wanted to spend a few minutes going over the expectations that the Children’s Bureau has for the type of research projects that the QIC will be supporting in Years 2-5.

Basically, we want these demonstration projects to do the following:

Develop and implement or replicate an evidence-based or evidence-informed early childhood and child abuse prevention program.

Conduct a utilization-focused evaluation and cost analysis to determine the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of the model and its components or strategies using multiple measures of results.

Produce detailed procedures and materials, based on the evaluation, that will contribute to and promote evidence-based and evidence-informed strategies, practices, and programs, and that may be used to guide replication or testing in other settings.

Dissertation support provided through this QIC will focus on independent research that may incorporate any of the strategies outlined above and focus on the intersection between child maltreatment prevention and early childhood programs and strategies.

SLIDE 30

Since this is a discretionary grant, we expect all our discretionary grants to be involved in evaluation activities.

The Children’s Bureau requires an objective rigorous evaluation of this grant project. This evaluation should be designed to collect systematic data to answer, at a minimum, the questions of interest to the Children’s Bureau that are selected from those listed in this program announcement, and other questions proposed by the applicant and approved by the Bureau.

The proposed evaluation plan should measure the effects of the implementation of the proposed project on preventing child maltreatment and improving the safety, permanency and well-being of the children and families served by the project. The findings from the evaluation should support evidence-based practice and provide States with examples of strategies that are tied to positive outcomes for children and families.

Applicants should allocate an appropriate percentage of their budgets to support a rigorous program evaluation.

SLIDE 31

All applications in response to this program announcement are due by 4:30pm, Eastern Time on July 14, 2008. Applications submitted by mail must be received by 4:30pm, and electronic submissions must be submitted via www.Grants.gov no later than 4:30pm. Late applications will not be considered. Applications that request amounts that exceed the stated ceiling of $1,700,000 for the first budget period will not be considered. Application Submission Information, or Section IV of the announcement, and further details specific to submission due dates and times can be found on page 43 of the announcement.

The application limit is 75 pages. Pages over this page limit will be removed from the application and will not be reviewed. This page limit does not include Standard Forms (SF) 424, 424A, and 424B, certifications, assurances, third-party agreements, letters of commitment, job descriptions, resumes, and curriculum vitae.

SLIDE 32

We would also like to provide you with a couple of additional reminders regarding the submission of applications.

Electronic submission is voluntary, but encouraged.
The due date and time applies to all applications whether mailed, hand delivered or submitted electronically.
Applicants are responsible for ensuring that applications are mailed hand delivered or submitted electronically well in advance of the application due date and time; this does not mean the day before or the day of the due date. This should include enough time so that if difficulties are encountered there will be sufficient time to submit a hard copy via express mail.
Applicants must have a D-U-N-S and register in the Central Contract Registry (CCR) to obtain the Authorized Organization Representative (AOR) electronic signature credentials for electronic submission.
If you are experiencing any difficulty with electronic submission, you must contact the Grants.gov Help Desk (at 1-800-518-4726 or support@grants.gov) to receive a case number which documents your problem.

SLIDE 33

As a reminder, any questions about the information from this webinar should questions in response to the webinar should be sent to: cb@dixongroup.com by 5:00pm Eastern on Friday, June 6th.

SLIDE 34

The Children’s Bureau encourages all applicants to be creative within the guidelines of the program announcement. Good luck!