Nebraska has been selected as one of 10 states nationwide to receive a federal Title IV-E Prevention Accelerator Grant aimed at strengthening child welfare prevention services and helping families get support before challenges become crises.
The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services Division of Children and Family Services will use the three-year grant to expand the state’s capacity to implement and sustain Motivational Interviewing, an evidence-based approach designed to help individuals build motivation toward positive change.
The grant will support efforts to increase the number of professionals trained in Motivational Interviewing, expand provider capacity and referral pathways, establish claiming and reimbursement systems, develop data and reporting infrastructure, and create a long-term sustainability plan.
DHHS will work with the Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, Community Collaboratives, the Nebraska 211 Warmline team, Chapin Hall and Motivational Interviewing model trainer Brenda Jennings as part of the effort.
The work is part of Nebraska’s broader “Right Home, Right Time” framework, which emphasizes providing prevention and early intervention services that can help families safely remain together whenever possible.
The framework also calls for prioritizing placement with relatives and trusted members of a child’s existing support network when a child cannot safely remain at home, as well as working toward safe, stable and timely permanent placements when children cannot return home.
Camas Holder, DHHS deputy director of Community and Clinical Partnerships, said the federal funding will help Nebraska continue efforts to support families earlier and strengthen the resources available to them.
“The grant strengthens our ability to support families early and keep children safely connected to their families whenever possible,” Holder said.
DHHS Director Dr. Alyssa Bish said the goal is to prevent families from reaching a crisis whenever possible.
The federal grant also builds on Nebraska’s recent selection for an Administration for Children and Families Children’s Bureau Predictive Analytics in Child Welfare Demonstration Grant.
According to DHHS, that three-year grant will support development of “Right Home, Right Time on TRACK,” a statewide predictive analytics initiative intended to strengthen child welfare decision-making and improve permanency outcomes.
Together, the two federal investments are intended to strengthen Nebraska’s ability to identify opportunities to support families earlier and connect them with prevention services.