Federal grant programs / Department of Health and Human Services

MaryLee Allen Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program (93.556)

• Awarded, FY 2021 to 2025$1.7 billion
• Grant awards1,609
• Typical award$109,235
• Awarded in FY 2025$325 million
• Size rank187 of 1824
• Type of assistanceFormula grants, project grants

Key findings

• Annual funding fell from $419 million in fiscal 2021 to $325 million in fiscal 2025.
• It is the 187th largest of 1,824 federal grant programs by five-year awards.
• The 20 largest recipients received 72% of the money.
• Awards went to recipients in 56 states and territories.

What the program funds

The objectives of the MaryLee Allen Promoting Safe and Stable Families Program (PSSF) are: 1) to prevent child maltreatment among families at risk through the provision of supportive family services; 2) to assure children's safety within the home and preserve intact families in which children have been maltreated, when the family's problems can be addressed effectively; 3) to address the problems of families whose children have been placed in foster care so that reunification may occur in a safe and stable manner; 4) to support adoptive families by providing support services as necessary so that they can make a lifetime commitment to their children.

From the federal Assistance Listing. Read the full listing on SAM.gov.

Open opportunities

No opportunity under this program is open or forecast on Grants.gov right now. Programs often post once a year, so the funding history below shows what to expect.

Rules from the program listing

Who can apply

(1) Formula Awards: States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U. S. Virgin Islands, the Northern Marianas, Guam, American Samoa, and Federally recognized Indian tribes are eligible applicants. For caseworker visit funds, only states and territories are eligible applicants. (2) Discretionary Awards: Please see the Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for applicant eligibility for research, evaluation, and technical assistance funds.

What the money can and cannot pay for

Under the main Promoting Safe and Stable Families Formula Awards, states must spend a significant portion of funds (approximately 20 percent) on each of the service categories of family preservation, family support services, time limited family reunification services, and adoption promotion and support services. State recipients must limit administrative costs to 10 percent of the Federal funds. Caseworker visit formula awards: States and territories are required to spend funds to improve the quality of monthly caseworker visits with children in foster care under the responsibility of the state, with an emphasis on improving caseworker decision making on the safety, permanency, and well-being of foster children, and on activities designed to increase retention, recruitment, and training of caseworkers. Discretionary Awards: Awards are typically awarded for research, evaluation, and technical assistance activities relating to family support, family preservation, family reunification, and adoption promotion support. Project funds may not be used for construction.

Matching requirements

Statutory Formula: Title IV, Part B, Subpart 2,Public Law Social Security Act..(1) Formula Awards: State allotments are computed based on the number of children receiving food stamps over a three year rolling average. Allotments to Indian tribes, including tribal consortia are based on a percent set aside of the total appropriation in each fiscal year and computed based on the number of children in the tribe compared to the total number of children in eligible Indian tribes. However, awards will not be made to Indian tribes whose allotment is less than $10,000. Allotments to territories are based on the formula in subpart 1 of Title IV-B. Matching Requirements: Federal Financial Participation (FFP) is available up to the full allotment at the rate of 75 percent for allowable program expenditures made by the recipient. Recipients must provide a 25 percent match for these expenditures. (2) Discretionary Awards: The funding formula and matching requirements are described in each NOFO.This program has MOE requirements, see funding agency for further details. An MOE requirement is applicable to the formula awards to states. States may not use the Federal funds under title IV-B, Subpart 2, to supplant Federal or non-Federal funds for existing family preservation and family support services as of 1992 (base year).There are no matching requirements for the Kinship Navigator program. The discretionary awards component of this program does not have MOE requirements.

Deadlines

Apr 01, 2026 to Jun 30, 2026 Formula awards: The Child and Family Services Plan or its annual update is due on June 30 of each year. Discretionary awards: Please see latest NOFO(s).

Award range and average, in the agency's words

In FY 2024, formula awards to states, territories, ranged from $214,989 to $33,145,393 with an average of $5,340,466. In FY 2024, formula awards to tribes ranged from $12,377 to $1,830,916 with an average of $84,727. In FY 2023, formula awards to states, territories, ranged from $171,449.00 to $34,929,971 with an average of $5,340,466.25. In FY 2023, formula awards to tribes ranged from $12,300 to $1,594,077 with an average of $82,058.

Quoted from the program's federal Assistance Listing. The notice of funding opportunity is the official source for each competition's rules.

Who usually wins

State and local governments received 96% of the money, tribes 2.6% and nonprofits 0.8%.

By state

52 states have a page for this program: those that received at least $1 million or 10 awards.

Award amounts are federal obligations reported to USAspending.gov for fiscal 2021 to 2025; see how our data works.