Five national organizations, Children’s Trust Fund Alliance, the Center for the Study of Social Policy, EndCAN, National Family Support Network, and Prevent Child Abuse America have collaborated to provide this resource to state agencies and organizations to help inform funding decisions and plans for the use of child abuse prevention funds that were included in the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021. The $1.9 trillion pandemic relief measure, passed on March 11, 2021 includes one-time emergency funding for the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), including $250 million in Community-Based Child Abuse Prevention (CBCAP) funding.
CBCAP dollars are an essential funding source for states, providing upstream prevention services, and are critical to undoing existing structural and systemic racism and meeting the needs of diverse families and communities. CSSP believes these dollars must be utilized to build and enhance a continuum of supports and services, grounded and driven by anti-racist principles, approaches, and strategies, in order to truly meet families where they are, and address the inequities and racism that drives children and families of color into contact with child welfare.