Grants / Department of Health and Human Services / Administration for Children and Families - ACYF/CB

HHS-2026-ACF-ACYF-CO-0040: Technology Enhanced Adoptive Family Recruiting and Matching

Closed Closed August 21, 2026 Opportunity HHS-2026-ACF-ACYF-CO-0040 ☆ Save

This grant is closed. Who won this program's grants before is below, and similar open grants are at the end of the page. It is in our archive of Administration for Children and Families - ACYF/CB notices from 2026.

• Award ceiling$2.7 million
• Award floor$1.5 million
• Total funding$10.7 million
• Expected awards4
• Cost sharingNot required
• Funding typeCooperative Agreement

Key dates

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes and businesses.

This program requires applicants to demonstrate BOTH technology expertise AND child welfare practice expertise at the organizational level. Applications from individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities are not eligible and will be disqualified from the merit review and funding under this funding opportunity.

More grants for nonprofits, colleges and universities, state and local governments, tribes, businesses.

Is this a realistic fit?

• Past Adoption Opportunities awards averaged $7.9 million; this notice allows up to $2.7 million per award.
• Most of the program's money (89% over five years) went to nonprofits.
• No cost sharing or match is required.

What the grant funds

This program will fund projects focused on technology-enabled strategies that improve adoptive matching, placement, and permanency for children in foster care awaiting adoption. The funds, awarded to four regional centers, will be used to design, implement and evaluate these strategies. These centers will focus on children with an adoption permanency goal or who are legally free for adoption due to child welfare involvement. Centers will partner with state, territorial, tribal, and local child welfare agencies and courts to develop secure, accessible technology solutions that improve how families are matched with children in need of permanent homes. Proposed solutions must be interoperable with existing systems and may include tools such as data-informed recruitment support, AI-assisted matching, and predictive analytics. Each center will strengthen data infrastructure, support continuous quality improvement, and develop scalable resources that jurisdictions nationwide can adopt. ACF will define four national service regions to ensure full U.S. coverage. Centers will provide regional innovation support, training, technical assistance, and dissemination of best practices while collaborating nationally on shared learning. Applicants will be expected to demonstrate measurable improvements in match timeliness, placement stability, and adoption finalization outcomes.

Category: Income Security and Social Services.

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Agencies often post the same opportunity again under a new number, so check the program's notices on Grants.gov and the similar open grants below.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.