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: August 21, 2026 (Full application, 11:59 p.m. ET)
Funding Amounts: Total program funding: $10,696,000; expected awards: 4; award size: $1,500,000–$2,674,000 per year for up to 5 years.
Summary: Supports regional innovation hubs to develop, implement, and evaluate technology-enabled strategies that improve the recruitment and matching of adoptive families for children in foster care.
Key Information: Applicants must demonstrate both technology and child welfare practice expertise at the organizational level.
Description
This federal program funds the creation of regional innovation hubs dedicated to advancing technology-enabled solutions that enhance the recruitment, matching, and placement of adoptive families for children in foster care. The initiative aims to modernize and improve the effectiveness of adoptive matching by supporting the design, implementation, and evaluation of tools such as data-informed recruitment systems, AI-assisted matching, and predictive analytics. Each funded hub will partner with public child welfare agencies and courts to develop secure, interoperable, and accessible technology that can be scaled nationally, with the ultimate goal of accelerating permanency, improving placement stability, and strengthening data-driven decision-making for adoption outcomes.
