Pictured Above: The five-year grant was awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Courtesy of Cassidy Schuck
By Sophie Ojdanic
A $3.7 million grant has been awarded to a collaborative team led by Family Study Center Director James McHale.
The five-year grant, awarded by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “to research and strengthen relationships between family members to create safe and supportive households,” according to a press release from university marketing and communications.
USF’s team is one of 31 teams nationwide to receive this type of grant from HHS.
The team will work with Pinellas County parents who voluntarily participate in services which help parents prevent their children’s removal from the family “following an investigation for child abuse and neglect using a relationship skills program called Within My Reach.”
The goal of the WMR program is to increase the likelihood that children will remain with their family members and in their childhood homes, while providing stability and security to the family relationships.
“The hope is that partnering agencies can serve parents … through this prevention program to keep children together with their family and not require further intervention in the future,” the initiative’s project manager, Ebony Miller, told university marketing and communications.
