CBC7, in partnership with the Texas Center for Child and Family Studies and the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, is seeking up to four community child and family serving organizations or collaboratives that are interested in being part of a cohort that will implement community-based and community-designed projects in Region 7. Individually as projects, and collectively as a cohort, participants will be striving to make placements outside of permanency rare, brief, and non-recurring.

For purposes of this opportunity:
  • Permanency is defined as a child who is: safe at home without removal; reunified; adopted; living with a family member who has been granted conservatorship; or, for youth who age out of care, they do so with a circle of caring adults that provide support, opportunity, and unity.
  • Rare is defined as (a) removals being infrequent, as families have what they need for children to remain safely at home, and (b) when removals do occur, placements in a non-permanent setting are infrequent.
  • Brief is defined as, when a child needs to be in foster care, their time in care is short and based on the needs of the child and the parents. Time in care is measured by the number of days between the date of removal and the the date the child/youth moves into a permanent placement and no longer has CPS involvement.
  • Non-recurring is defined as, when children leave foster care to a permanent placement, they do not return to foster care. For children who must return to care, the placement is with a relative/kinship family.
The objectives of the full cohort will be to implement innovative ideas, compile lessons learned, and support children and families in Central Texas that are involved in or at risk of involvement in the child welfare system.

Please complete the short application on the following page to be considered for participation in the cohort. Applications must be received by July 12 to be considered.

If you have questions about the cohort opportunity or the application, please reach out to Valerie Hallam at vhallam@tacfs.org.

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