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1992.09.17 :  Fragile Infants and Adolescents Grant Funding

Contact:  ACF Press Office (202) 401-9215
Louise White (L.A.) (213) 894-7440      
September 17, 1992

       LOS ANGELES--HHS Secretary Louis W. Sullivan, M.D., has
announced the award of an additional $50,000 to allow an existing
grant program currently providing temporary respite care for
fragile infants and adolescents to be expanded to deal with
families facing additional stress as a result of the Los Angeles
riots.
       The new amount is in addition to an original grant
allowing for $200,000 for each of three years to provide
temporary child care for families with fragile infants and
children.
       "This additional funding will allow families of infants
and young children with disabilities in Los Angeles to receive
the respite care they so urgently need," said Secretary Sullivan. 
"I believe this grant will help to keep many families together
who may have been torn apart by the challenges of caring for a
child with severe disabilities."
       The state of California, the grant recipient, has
contracted with Bienvenidos, an agency providing services for
fragile infants, to receive the additional training and provide
the additional services.  Trained professional staff will visit
homes in the "Weed and Seed" target area of Los Angeles to assist
families in caring for their medically challenged children.

       "Keeping children out of foster care and in their own
homes is a major goal of our efforts at HHS," said Jo Anne B.
Barnhart, assistant secretary for children and families. "This
supplemental grant will help us promote that goal in the greater
Los Angeles area."
       Title II of the Children's Justice and Assistance Act of
l986, Temporary Child Care for Handicapped Children and Crisis
Nurseries has been implemented by ACF's Children's Bureau.  A
total of 121 grants have been awarded in 45 states. In FY 1991,
45 grants were awarded for temporary child care for handicapped
and chronically ill children, and 33 grants were awarded for
crisis nurseries program. Both types of programs include children
who have been diagnosed as having AIDS, are HIV positive, or have
been exposed to drugs. 

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