STRONG Support for Children Act of 2025
The STRONG Support for Children Act of 2025 would amend the Public Health Service Act to make data-driven investments aimed at preventing and mitigating childhood trauma in geographic areas with high prevalence of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs). It creates a federal grant program that funds up to five eligible entities to use data analysis to identify high-need areas, develop prevention and early-intervention strategies, and connect children and families to trauma-informed, reparative services. The bill emphasizes care coordination, cross-sector collaboration, and community engagement, and requires evaluation of both the data models and the overall program. It also creates dedicated CARE COORDINATION GRANTS to establish or expand trauma-informed, culturally specific care coordination for children aged 0-5 and their caregivers (including prenatal people), with a broad menu of eligible services and targets. Overall, the bill prioritizes trauma-informed, culturally responsive supports that address systemic risk factors (poverty, housing instability, food insecurity, discrimination, and other ACE correlates) and seeks to measure impact on child and family outcomes, while limiting coercive uses of data and restricting how funds may be used. It includes explicit protections and reporting requirements, and directs substantial funding through 2032 to support these initiatives.
Key Points
- 1Data-driven trauma-prevention program with grants to up to 5 entities. The Secretary would fund development and implementation of programs that use data analysis to identify high-ACE geographic areas and to test early-intervention strategies, with evaluation of effectiveness.
- 2Comprehensive, non-coercive service menu. Grants may fund strategies to connect children and families to a broad set of voluntary, trauma-informed services (e.g., home visiting, parenting skills, substance use and mental health supports, housing and nutrition assistance, violence prevention, child advocacy centers, and school-based mental health supports), with emphasis on reparative and culturally specific approaches.
- 3Strong guardrails and priorities. The bill imposes rules on administration (max 5% for admin), limits on use of funds, prohibition on targeting or coercing individuals, and a priority for system dynamic modeling (a participatory, cross-sector approach that considers multiple risk factors). It also requires secondary use of funds to support subgrants to partner organizations and to avoid duplicating Medicaid-funded services where possible.
- 4CARE COORDINATION GRANTS for young children. A separate track (Sec. 1255) would fund 9–40 grants to establish or expand trauma-informed care coordination for children aged 0-5 and their caregivers, including prenatal individuals. Grants would be at least $250,000 and up to $1,000,000 annually, with a focus on communities with high trauma risk indicators and disparities.
- 5Evaluation, reporting, and transparency. The act requires multi-stage evaluations (data model evaluation within ~3 years; program evaluation within ~6 years), data collection on service delivery and outcomes, and a final Congress/public report with lessons learned and replication recommendations. It also mandates sharing findings with stakeholders after grant periods.