News Release

HHS Announces Over $31 Million to Aid Children Who Experience Trauma

“When children are exposed to trauma it can rob them of their childhood,” Secretary  Thompson said.  “These awards will help communities mitigate the effects of trauma on our children.”

The awards are being administered by HHS’ Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) under the three types of funding mechanisms that comprise the National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative.   They are: the National Center for Child Traumatic Stress; Intervention Development and Evaluation Centers; and Community Treatment and Services Centers. Each type of center has primary responsibility for a set of functions under the initiative. 

“The National Child Traumatic Stress Initiative is a three pronged effort to provide services to children and adolescents who have been affected by major trauma” SAMHSA Administrator Charles G. Curie said.  “As the administration works to eliminate the family circumstances that cause childhood trauma, we cannot leave behind the children who have been devastated by traumatizing events.”

National Child Traumatic Stress Network

The initiative includes a coordinating center, called the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.  The current grantee, The Regents of the University of California, Los Angeles, is being given a $1,000,000 one-year supplement to continue development intervention products for national dissemination.  This coordinating center currently provides leadership and support for collaborative projects by the 36 participating centers of the National Child Traumatic Stress Network  

Intervention Development and Evaluation (IDE) Centers

The second component of the Initiative is the Intervention Development and Evaluation (IDE) Centers, which are responsible for the development, delivery and evaluation of improved treatment approaches and service delivery models for specific types of child traumatic events. 

There are three specific types of new IDE centers.  

The grantees are:

• University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, Okla., - $600,000.  This grant will develop the “Indian County Child Trauma Center” and develop trauma-related treatment protocols, outreach materials and services specifically adapted for Native American children.
• Idaho State University, Pocatello, Idaho - $600,000.  This grant will collaborate with local and national partners to increase access and quality of care by disseminating service delivery strategies and best practices, and clinical guidelines to provide clinical and community-based services for rural, tribal and frontier people.

Service Systems Models Intervention Development and Evaluation Centers support the identification, standardization, implementation, evaluation, and dissemination of promising trauma-informed service system intervention models in systems serving youth.   Annual awards are expected to be available for four years, depending on performance and availability of funding.

The grantees are:

• Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, S.C. - $599,856.  This center will develop, evaluate and disseminate evidence-based, trauma-informed interventions that can be used by service systems targeting youth, such as schools, juvenile justice programs, mental health centers, child advocacy centers and rape crisis centers to help children and adolescents who have been exposed to traumatic events.

• National Center on Family Homelessness, Newton Centre, Mass. - $599,991.  This grant will address the unmet trauma-related needs of homeless children and their parent, the National Center on Family Homelessness, the Trauma Center and other partners.  The collaboration will work to increase knowledge, both within and outside the National Child Traumatic Stress Network.

Traumatic Stress and Substance Abuse Interventions Development and Evaluation Centers support development, evaluation and dissemination of interventions for adolescents with co-occurring traumatic stress and substance abuse problems.  Annual awards are expected to be available for four years, depending on performance and availability of funding. The grantee is:

• Boston University Charles River Campus, Boston, Mass. – $600,000.  This grant will focus on developing innovative and effective treatments for adolescent post traumatic stress disorder and substance abuse.

Cooperative Agreements for Community Treatment and Service Centers

The third component of the initiative is the Cooperative Agreements for Community Treatment and Service Centers, which provides treatment and services to traumatized children and adolescents in community and youth-serving systems.  Annual awards are expected to be available for four years, depending on performance and availability of funding.

The grantees are:

• Open Arms, Inc., Albany, Ga. - $400,000.  This grantee will operate a residential facility and child advocacy center to provide services for children in a rural and economically depressed region. 
• LSU Health Science Center, New Orleans, La., - $399,874.  This grantee will provide and enhance needed services for rural children and adolescents exposed to traumatic events in Louisiana.  It will focus on two important treatment and services components for children (1) hospitals that provide emergency services and (2) school districts that meet the educational needs of rural children.
• Kennedy Krieger Institute, Baltimore, Md. - $400,000.  This grantee will develop, evaluate and disseminate effective mental health treatment protocols for children and adolescents.  They are targeting children in or at risk for out-of-home placement who are suffering from traumatic stress due to cumulative and repetitive exposure to parental substance abuse, neglect, physical/sexual abuse, domestic violence, and/or community violence.
• Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Mich. - $379,547.  The grantee will administer the Children’s Trauma Assessment Center and address the combined harmful effects of trauma and prenatal alcohol exposure.
• Catholic Charities, Inc.  Jackson, Miss. - $363,636.   This grantee is a partnership that includes state mental health, state disaster management, a major faith-based provider, and a network of accessible community-based organizations that have combined their efforts to provide services to isolated child trauma survivors.
• University of Montana, Missoula, Mont. - $400,000.  This grant will adapt Cognitive Behavior Therapy Intervention for Trauma in Schools for Native American Children as an effective intervention to reduce the effects of violence.
• University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Stratford, N.J. - $397,415.  This grant will enhance public and professional efforts toward early identification and protection of potential abuse victims and improve access to culturally sensitive treatment services for children
• Child and Parent Support Services, Durham, N.C. - $399,202.  This grant will work collaboratively with a community non-profit agency and three local universities designed to unite previously fragmented community services for traumatized children. 
• Family and Children Services, Inc., Tulsa, Okla., - $400,000.  This grant is a public-private partnership that will serve child/adolescent trauma victims in each of the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Service systems populations: mental health, domestic violence, and substance abuse. 
• Childhood Trauma Intervention Center, Nashville, Tenn., - $400,000.  This grantee is a partnership between Family and Children’s Service and the Nashville Child Advocacy Center and was formed to increase early identification, expand access and improve effective intervention for highly vulnerable, traumatized children.
• DePelchin Children’s Center, Houston, Texas - $400,000.  This grantee will deliver screening, assessment, case management and mental health services for traumatized children in the greater Houston metropolitan area.
• Mental Health Center of Dane County, Inc., Madison, Wis. - $400,000.  This grant will develop integrated early identification services for traumatized adolescents who are also involved in substance abuse across the Dane County adolescent service system.

SAMHSA is a public health agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  The agency is responsible for accountability, capacity and effectiveness of the nation’s substance abuse prevention, addictions treatment and mental health service delivery systems.

 

This page was last updated on 08 October, 2003
SAMHSA is An Agency of the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services