Tribal Court Improvement Program

This Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) provides funding to tribal courts to assess the effectiveness of and support improvements to how these courts and/or legal representation handle American Indian and Alaska Native child welfare cases. This includes cases involving family preservation, family reunification, guardianship, and adoption. The Tribal Court Improvement Program (TCIP) supports the Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) mission to foster health and well-being by providing partnership and effective delivery of human services.Through this program, ACF partners directly with tribes to strengthen tribal court systems that oversee child welfare matters, helping ensure that children are safe, families are supported, and court proceedings are timely, fair, and legally sound.

Eligible applicants are Indian tribes, as defined by subsections (E) and (I) of section 4 of the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act (25 U.S.C. 5304), or tribal consortia that meet one of the three conditions below: Operating an approved title IV-E program in accordance with section 479B of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 679c).Plans to operate a title IV-E program and have received a Tribal Title IV-E Plan Development Grant, as authorized by section 476 of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 676).Have a court that handles foster care or adoption cases.A tribal consortium is a partnership between two or more tribes that work together to achieve a common objective. Applications from individuals (including sole proprietorships) and foreign entities are not eligible and w