Nebraska has been selected for a federal grant intended to help the state reach families before a child-welfare crisis leads to foster care. The Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services announced Wednesday that its Children and Family Services division is one of 10 jurisdictions chosen for the federal Title IV-E Prevention Accelerator Grant.
The award is aimed at infrastructure rather than a new direct benefit. According to DHHS’s September 16 announcement, Nebraska will use the grant to expand Motivational Interviewing, a structured practice that helps caseworkers and families identify goals and strengthen a person’s own reasons for change. The state did not disclose its individual award amount in the release.
The plan has several operational pieces: train more workers, increase provider capacity, create referral pathways, build reimbursement and federal-claiming systems, improve data reporting and write a sustainability plan. Those steps matter because Title IV-E prevention funding is not automatic. States must connect eligible families to qualifying services, document delivery and meet federal evidence and reporting requirements before claiming reimbursement. The federal Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse reviews programs and rates the evidence behind them, while the Children’s Bureau’s Child Welfare Policy Manual provides the governing guidance for state agencies.
DHHS said the work will involve Nebraska Children and Families Foundation, community collaboratives, Nebraska 211, Chapin Hall and Motivational Interviewing trainer Brenda Jennings. The partnership is designed to create a clearer route from a family’s first request for help to an appropriate local service. Nebraska’s 211 network already connects residents with food, housing, utility and other assistance, giving the state an existing statewide access point to build on.
The grant also aligns with the department’s “Right Home, Right Time” strategy. DHHS says that framework prioritizes keeping children safely at home, using relatives or kin when removal is necessary, and reaching permanent placements without unnecessary delay. A separate federal award will support predictive analytics under a three-year project called Right Home, Right Time on TRACK, which stands for Timely Review, Analytics, Coordination for Kids.
The federal policy behind the project represents a shift in how child-welfare dollars can be used. The Child Welfare Information Gateway’s funding overview explains that federal, state and local streams support services across the child-welfare continuum. Family First authority lets qualifying Title IV-E money move upstream into approved mental-health, substance-use and in-home parenting services for children at risk of entering foster care, rather than limiting federal support primarily to placements after removal.
For families, the immediate effect will be limited while Nebraska develops training, contracts, referral rules and reimbursement systems. The practical measure of the grant will come later: whether more families can reach effective services early, whether providers can sustain those services after the grant period and whether fewer children require out-of-home placement. DHHS has not yet published an implementation calendar or performance targets, so those details will be important markers as the project moves from planning to delivery.
