Tribal Court Improvement Program - The Administration for Children and Families, Children's Bureau announces the availability of awards to provide Tribes and Tribal consortia the opportunity to compete for grants to enable Tribal courts to:

1. Conduct assessments of how Tribal courts handle child welfare proceedings and to make improvements to court processes to provide for the safety, permanency and well-being of children as set forth in the Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA) and increase and improve engagement of the entire family in court processes relating to child welfare, family preservation, family reunification and adoption;
2. Ensure children's safety, permanence, and well-being needs are met in a timely and complete manner (through better collection and analysis of data); and
3. Provide for training of judges, attorneys, and legal personnel in child welfare cases.

Eligibility Category:   The government of Indian Tribes and Tribal consortia that:

1. are operating an approved title IV-E program in accordance with section 479B of The Child and Family Services Improvement and Innovation Act, Pub. L. 112-34 9the Act); or
2. plan to operate a title IV-e program and have received a title IV-E plan development grant, as authorized by section 476 of the Act; or
3. have a court responsible for proceedings related to foster care or adoption (section 438(c)(3)(A)(iv) of the Act).

Estimated Application Due Date: June 14, 2012.