Technology Enhanced Adoptive Family Recruiting and Matching
This grant funds four regional centers to develop technology solutions that improve how foster children are matched and placed with adoptive families, aiming for faster, more stable, and permanent adoptions nationwide.
Funder: Administration for Children and Families - ACYF/CB
Due Dates (Anticipated): July 2026
Funding Amounts: Estimated $10,696,000 total; awards range $1,500,000–$2,674,000 each for up to 4 centers
Summary: Supports regional centers developing technology-enabled strategies to improve adoptive family matching and permanency for children in foster care.
Key Information: Applicants must demonstrate both technology and child welfare practice expertise at the organizational level.
Description
This forecasted program will fund four regional centers to design, implement, and evaluate technology-enabled strategies that improve adoptive matching, placement, and permanency for children in foster care awaiting adoption. Centers will focus on children with an adoption permanency goal or who are legally free for adoption due to child welfare involvement.
Funded centers will:
- Collaborate with state, territorial, tribal, and local child welfare agencies and courts.
- Develop secure, accessible, and interoperable technology solutions (such as data-informed recruitment, AI-assisted matching, and predictive analytics).
- Strengthen data infrastructure, support quality improvement, and create scalable resources for nationwide adoption.
- Provide regional innovation support, training, technical assistance, and best practice dissemination.
- Work together nationally to share learning and demonstrate improvements in match timeliness, placement stability, and adoption finalization outcomes.
