New York, July 20, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- It is estimated that one in eight (8.7 million) children ages 17 or younger in the United States live in a household where at least one parent has had a substance use disorder in the past year. These children are at greater risk of themselves developing a substance use disorder later in life.
Recognizing the urgent need for comprehensive approaches to opioid use disorder that address the needs of the entire family, the Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) is today issuing a new Request for Proposals for projects that will engage and empower vulnerable families and communities to prevent opioid use disorder and overdose.
“With preliminary statistics from the CDC indicating there were over 93,000 deaths from drug overdoses in the last year, the United States continues to be in the grip of a crisis that is devastating families,” says Dr. Karen A. Scott, President of FORE. “Since we know that most substance use starts in adolescence, we must engage and support children and families who are most vulnerable, including those with a parent or other family member with opioid use disorder, those in which family members have been separated for a time, and those in very low-income communities.”
Since 2020, FORE has provided $13 million in funding for 44 projects to promote access to treatment, support recovery programs, explore the most innovative solutions to the opioid crisis, and respond to the acceleration in opioid use disorder and overdose exacerbated by the pandemic. FORE’s latest Request for Proposals will provide grant support for projects to improve or expand evidence-based family, school, or community-based prevention services for children and families, particularly for those at highest risk.
The focus will be on projects in the following three areas:
- Mitigating the impact of adverse childhood experiences
- Developing models for racial and cultural minorities and addressing inequities
- Addressing and managing pain, emotional stress, and trauma
Applicants may apply for up to $500,000 a year for up to three years. For more details go to: Apply for a Grant.
Implementing Family-Focused Initiatives in Primary Care Settings
FORE is also announcing a grant to the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) to develop a two-day national workshop to examine evidence-based, family-focused prevention strategies that have been used to address substance use disorders in primary health care settings and explore ways to broaden implementation and address disparities in access. The workshop, to be held next year in Washington DC, will bring together a diverse group of nationally recognized leaders and stakeholders, include parent and family groups, from across the country.
The project, titled “Implementing Family Focused Interventions in Primary Health Care to Prevent Substance Use Disorders in Adolescents,” will be led by Natacha Blain, JD, PhD, Senior Board Director of the National Academies Board on Children, Youth and Families (BCYF) in collaboration with its Forum for Children's Well-Being.
“We are launching these prevention initiatives because we believe there are opportunities to expand the evidence base of what really works, target attention and program development to highly vulnerable families, lift up current models which have shown positive outcomes, and determine how to implement and sustain them in more communities,” Dr. Scott says. “Our goal is to provide reference points for local, state, and federal policymakers on how to get what works to many more families.”
About FORE
The Foundation for Opioid Response Efforts (FORE) was founded in 2018 as a private 501(c)(3) national, grant-making foundation focused on addressing the nation’s opioid crisis. FORE is committed to funding a diversity of projects contributing solutions to the crisis at national, state, and community levels. FORE’s mission is to support partners advancing patient-centered, innovative, evidence-based solutions impacting people experiencing opioid use disorder, their families, and their communities. Through convening, grantmaking and developing informational resources, FORE seeks to bring about long-term change. To date, FORE has awarded 44 grants totaling $13 million.