Grants: Awards/ Lawsuit - 9/14/06

[Smartmarriages]

- GRANTS QUESTIONS
- ACF ANNOUNCES NEARLY $800,000 IN GRANT AWARDS TO STRENGTHEN CHILD SUPPORT
- LAWSUIT CHALLENGES USE OF FEDERAL AID FOR BIBLE-BASED COUNSELING

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- GRANTS QUESTIONS

I have promised to share any information I hear about the marriage and
fatherhood grants. Several organizations received notices at the end of last
week that their applications arrived past the deadline - "even 15 minutes
late was too late" and their applications were not even read.  So, other
than a few folks being out of the running, word on the street is that no one
will hear anything more until Sept 29th. I have NO other info, so no point
in asking me. When I hear it, you will hear it.  If I can keep this list
working. - diane 

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- ACF ANNOUNCES NEARLY $800,000 IN GRANT AWARDS TO STRENGTHEN CHILD SUPPORT

Monday, Sept. 11, 2006
The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS) today announced nearly $800,000 in grants to
non-profit organizations and a local agency to advance the performance of
the nation¹s child support enforcement system.

Three grants are designed to promote healthy relationships for unwed couples
to improve their children¹s financial security, including the following:

The Center for Policy Research in Denver received $198,664 to collaborate
with local clinics and child support agencies in San Francisco and Saint
Louis to present information about paternity, child support and healthy
relationships to low-income, unmarried parents in trusted, medical settings.

The Child and Family Resource Council of Grand Rapids received $199,323 to
provide parenting and life-skills sessions as well as mediation services to
promote healthy relationships for low-income, single-parent families with
young children. The project will evaluate what services and outreach best
ensure that children receive financial and medical support.

The Family Service Association of San Antonio received $200,000 to test
strategies that enhance the understanding of unmarried, new parents
concerning the importance of paternity establishment and the value of family
stability and healthy relationships. The project will evaluate the
effectiveness of providing unwed parents with both parenting/marriage
educational materials and services as compared to only receiving educational
materials. 

Two grants were awarded to improve child support by encouraging parents and
child support enforcement (CSE) agencies to work together for better
results: 

The Christian Community Council in Albany, Louisiana received $100,000 to
partner with the local CSE agency and the 21st Judicial District Court to
help noncustodial parents find employment and increase their understanding
of the court process and their knowledge of child support so they are better
able to meet their parental obligations.

The Philadelphia Housing Authority received $100,000, in partnership with
the Department of Public Welfare and Family Court, to provide noncustodial
parents with child support and housing eligibility services and referral to
job training and placement to help them meet their child support
responsibilities. 
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- LAWSUIT CHALLENGES USE OF FEDERAL AID FOR BIBLE-BASED COUNSELING
The New York Times 
September 13, 2006
By NEELA BANERJEE

(( I've been asked by several of you what I know about this Vancouver-based
NorthWest Marriage Institute. I am not familiar with them.  Although their
site talks about Marriage Education (along with counseling and therapy
services) the director, Bob Whiddon, and the rest of the staff (as listed on
their website), are not in the Smart Marriages database and have not
attended a Smart Marriages Conference. I've also been asked if I was
contacted for this story.  I was not, did not talk to the NY Times. If you
have any concerns about your program, contact the ACF Marriage Specialist in
your region:
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/healthymarriage/about/regionalcontact.htm
 -diane))  

A group called Americans United for Separation of Church and State filed
suit yesterday to block federal financing for an organization that provides
marriage counseling based on the Bible.

The lawsuit is another challenge to the Bush administration¹s efforts to
channel money for social services to religious organizations. While
religious groups are not barred from getting public money, such financing
can only be used for secular purposes, not ³worship, religious instruction
or proselytization,² according to government guidelines.

Americans United, a watchdog group based in Washington, D.C., filed the
lawsuit in Federal District Court in Tacoma, Wash., on behalf of 13 state
residents. They object to federal funds being used to support the Northwest
Marriage Institute, which states in its newsletter that it offers
³Bible-based premarital and marriage counseling.² The institute, in
Vancouver, Wash., received $97,750 in federal grants in 2005 from the
Department of Health and Human Services.

The lawsuit argued that the institute uses federal funds for religious
purposes, including developing materials with religious content, buying
equipment for use in religiously based programming and paying part of the
salaries of employees who do Bible-based counseling.

³This program trains people in how to make their marriages conform to one
narrow interpretation of faith,² said the Rev. Barry W. Lynn, executive
director of Americans United, in a written statement. ³The federal
government has no business forcing the taxpayer to subsidize that.²

A spokesman for the Health and Human Services Department declined to comment
on the suit, saying that the agency generally does not comment on pending
lawsuits.

Bob Whiddon Jr., director of the Northwest Marriage Institute, said he had
not yet seen the lawsuit.

But he said the grants were meant to strengthen his organization by paying
for consultants to improve its business practices and to buy equipment, not
for programs.

³The grants say that I¹m allowed to do things that will allow me to increase
the capacity of my organization to serve the community,² Dr. Whiddon said in
a telephone interview. ³None of what we do with the money is for religious
purposes.²

The administration has failed to provide clear guidelines about what federal
funds can be used for, said Robert W. Tuttle, a law professor at George
Washington University who is an expert on religion-based initiatives.

The government instructs organizations broadly that they are prohibited from
using funds for religious purposes. But, he said, it does not answer the
seemingly small, yet sometimes critical, questions that could occur in daily
practice.

For example, could software bought with federal money be used for religious
purposes? Or is it acceptable to give federal money to improve the
management practices of an obviously religious organization like the
Northwest Marriage Institute, when those changes would affect both its
secular work and religious mission?

³The government studiously avoids clearing up these questions because it
doesn¹t want to discourage people from applying and look hostile to faith
groups,² Professor Tuttle said. ³I honestly don¹t think it would discourage
people. Instead, it would give them a good sense of how to avoid being
sued.²

  
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