Home Study and Post-Release Services for Unaccompanied Alien Children
Administration for Children and Families - ORR
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- Posted
- Apr 8, 2026
- Amount
- $1 million to $100 million for the first budget period
- FY 2027 application deadline
- Oct 1, 2026 (in 18 days)
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Classification and identifiers
- Solicitation number
- HHS-2026-ACF-ORR-ZU-0019
- Assistance listing (CFDA)
- 93.676
FundingLandscape analysis
Home Study and Post-Release Services for Unaccompanied Alien Children
Submit through Grants.gov under HHS-2026-ACF-ORR-ZU-0019 by the deadline for the next scheduled review. The current FY 2027 cutoff is October 1, 2026 at 11:59 p.m. Eastern. Applications received after that cutoff may be retained for the FY 2028 review due October 1, 2027, but applicants should not rely on a later review when seeking an FY 2027 start. Confirm the current package and active SAM.gov and Grants.gov registrations before submission.
Primary sources verified 2026-08-14.
Why it matters
The August 3 modified notice estimates $555 million in total program funding and 20 awards. That total is not one award. The stated $1 million floor and $100 million ceiling apply to the first budget period of an individual award.
ACF plans five-year project periods with five one-year budget periods. Funding after the first budget period depends on a non-competing continuation application, agency approval, and continued availability of federal funds.
The program combines home studies before release with three levels of post-release services after a child is placed with a sponsor. Providers must be ready for virtual check-ins, case management, and intensive in-home engagement, not only one service tier.
Eligibility is unrestricted by organization type, but that does not make every organization operationally ready. The notice excludes individuals and sole proprietorships, federal entities, and foreign entities, and it adds location restrictions for current recipients whose project periods have not ended.
Program pool versus individual award
- Expected total program funding
- $555 million
- Expected number of awards
- 20
- First-budget-period award range
- $1 million to $100 million
- Planned project period
- Five years, with five one-year budget periods
- Later budget periods
- Subject to non-competing continuation approval and federal funds availability
- Required cost share
- None
Who can actually apply
- Eligibility is unrestricted by organization type. Government entities, Tribes and Tribal organizations, nonprofits, higher education institutions, faith-based and community organizations, small businesses, and other for-profit organizations may apply if they meet the notice requirements.
- Individuals, including sole proprietorships, federal entities, and foreign entities are ineligible. An application from one of those classes is disqualified from merit review.
- A current recipient in the final year of its project period must compare its project end date with the projected new award date. A current recipient that is not in its final year must propose services in a new facility and new location from its currently funded work.
- ACF does not fund multiple projects offering the same type of service in the same location. The application must identify the proposed geographic service area and account for current funded coverage.
- The service model covers home studies and all three post-release service levels: virtual check-ins, case management, and intensive in-home engagement. Providers must address referrals in urban and remote locations within their proposed scope.
- The notice requires provider staffing, training, background checks, documentation, reporting, privacy, and case-oversight capacity. Broad legal eligibility does not waive those operational requirements.
- No cost share is required. Voluntary cost sharing is not considered in merit review and becomes an enforceable award commitment if included and accepted.
Deadline, forms, and submission sequence
- Confirm the applicant is not an excluded individual, sole proprietorship, federal entity, or foreign entity. If the organization currently receives this funding, resolve the project-period, facility, location, and service-duplication restrictions before drafting.
- Define the proposed geographic service area, expected referral coverage, partner network, and capacity to serve urban and remote locations without duplicating the same funded service in the same location.
- Design an operating model that covers home studies and all three post-release service levels. Address required assessments, documentation, contact schedules, extended services, mandated reporting, notices of concern, and case closure.
- Map staffing and supervision to the notice requirements. The notice identifies minimum caseloads of 3 for home-study workers, 25 for Level 1, 15 for Level 2, and 5 for Level 3, and requires training, complete background checks, and provider-standard compliance.
- Maintain active SAM.gov and Grants.gov registrations and a Unique Entity Identifier. Confirm the authorized organization official can access and certify the Grants.gov package.
- Prepare file one with the table of contents, one-page project summary, project narrative, line-item budget, and budget narrative. Address geographic location, approach, performance evaluation, organizational capacity, sensitive information, federal-award oversight, and ACF priority alignment in the notice order.
- Prepare file two through the Other Attachments form. Include the ACF Priorities Alignment Attestation and, when applicable, the indirect-cost agreement, legal-status evidence, organizational-capacity support, and signed third-party agreements.
- Complete the required federal forms, including the Project Abstract Summary, SF-424, SF-424A, SF-424B, Key Contacts, lobbying forms, and Project/Performance Site Location form. The combined page limit for files one and two is 200 pages.
- Build the first-year budget within the $1 million to $100 million range and reconcile it with staffing, service volume, partner roles, performance sites, and the line-item narrative. Do not treat later continuation funding as guaranteed.
- Submit through Grants.gov by 11:59 p.m. Eastern on the applicable October 1 deadline and retain the timestamp, validation notices, and final package. Check the current opportunity record for another modification before submission.
How the official 125-point review is weighted
- Purpose and need carries 40 points. Reviewers examine the project scope, activities, service-delivery detail, capacity for complex and specialized cases, timeline, milestones, quantitative projections, and logic model.
- Response carries 30 points. The review covers the action plan, all three post-release service levels, connections to core services, trauma-informed case management, assessment and documentation, required contacts, specialized cases, reporting, and case closure.
- Impact carries 20 points. Reviewers assess the performance-evaluation framework, measurable inputs and outcomes, continuous quality improvement, data management and integrity, implementation risks, and the schedule for applying findings.
- Resources and capabilities carries 25 points. The record must address team and partner experience, subaward roles, community relationships, staffing and training, background checks, provider standards, federal-funds oversight, and protection of sensitive information.
- Alignment with ACF vision, mission, values, priorities, and guiding principles carries 10 points. The notice divides this into demonstrated understanding, operational use in program design, and integration into measurable performance and continuous improvement.
- Selection is not based on score alone. The notice also permits ACF to consider service to emerging, unserved, or underserved populations, geographic distribution, past performance, compliance, management risk, and portfolio needs.
Readiness checklist
- Confirm the legal applicant and resolve every current-recipient location or project-period restriction.
- Name the geographic service area and check it against current funded service locations.
- Demonstrate capacity for home studies and all three post-release service levels.
- Document the referral, assessment, contact, service-plan, reporting, notice-of-concern, and case-closure workflows.
- Reconcile staffing and supervision with the required caseloads, training, background checks, and provider standards.
- Identify community-based organizations, social-service agencies, contractors, and subrecipients, with signed commitments where required.
- Prepare a full-period timeline, quantitative projections, logic model, and performance-evaluation framework.
- Define data-quality, privacy, protected-information, recordkeeping, financial-control, and subrecipient-monitoring systems.
- Build a first-budget-period request of $1 million to $100 million and separate it from unguaranteed continuation years.
- Complete the two application files, required attestations and attachments, and all Grants.gov standard forms within the 200-page combined limit.
- Verify active SAM.gov registration, UEI, Grants.gov access, authorized-official certification, performance sites, and package validation.
- Check the August 3 modified notice and the live opportunity record for any later amendment before submission.
Primary sources
Related opportunities and the next search
- Search current ACF and ORR grants
Review current source-linked ORR opportunities, then save the search or start an alert for later modifications and cycles.
- Search child-welfare and family-service funding
Use a broader monitoring lane for child safety, family stabilization, case management, and community-service opportunities.
- Review the nonprofit grants guide
Compare this specialized cooperative agreement with broader nonprofit funding and recurring discovery workflows.
Analysis change log
- 2026-08-14: Initial analysis verified against the August 3 modified NOFO, the current Simpler.Grants.gov record, the ACF ORR grants page, and the Foundational Rule. It replaces the earlier $258 million, 15-award, and $50 million ceiling figures with the current $555 million, 20-award, and $100 million first-budget-period ceiling; records both remaining review dates; and distinguishes planned continuation years from guaranteed funding.
Amount
$1 million to $100 million for the first budget period
Who can apply
Eligibility is unrestricted by organization type, but individuals and sole proprietorships, federal entities, and foreign entities cannot apply. Current recipients also face location and project-period restrictions in the notice.
About this opportunity
The Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) provides temporary housing and care for children who arrive in the United States alone. These are children who are under 18 years old, don't have legal permission to be in the U.S., and don't have a parent or legal guardian in the U.S. who can take care of them. ORR runs the Home Study and Post-Release Services Program to help these children. Before placing a child with a sponsor, ORR carefully checks potential homes to make sure they're safe and appropriate. After placement, ORR provides ongoing support to help children and their sponsors succeed. This support helps children adjust to living with their sponsor, connect with their community, stay safe and healthy, and navigate the immigration court process. The goal is to make sure children are plac...