Alaska agencies receive federal foster-care licensing grants
Published 4:30 am Sunday, September 20, 2026
Rural and remote Alaska communities are expected to gain easier access to fingerprinting required for foster-care placements through a new round of federal funding.
A $2.2 million initiative announced Thursday, Sept. 17 includes awards for the State of Alaska, Kawerak Inc., and Knik Tribe. Fourteen states, tribes, and child-welfare organizations nationally were selected for grants ranging from $54,000 to $200,000.
Mobile fingerprinting equipment and improvements to background-check systems are intended to reduce delays in licensing foster families and placing children with relatives, prospective adoptive parents, and other caregivers.
“By reducing delays and expanding access, we are improving outcomes for children and families and advancing our commitment to timely, safe placements,” Alaska Department of Family and Community Services commissioner Tracy Dompeling said in a prepared statement.
Federal officials did not identify the amount awarded to each Alaska recipient or specify how many communities will receive new equipment.
Kawerak is a Nome-based nonprofit tribal consortium serving communities throughout the Bering Strait region. Its board includes representatives of 20 federally recognized tribes, and the organization provides children and family services among more than 40 programs.
Knik Tribe, based in the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, provides social, educational, and economic services to the tribal citizens across an approximately 25,000-square-mile service area in Southcentral Alaska.
State agencies will also receive funding for statewide licensing infrastructure, according to the U.S. Administration for Children and Families.
Each recipient is expected to identify gaps in its existing technology and procedures before purchasing and deploying compliant fingerprinting equipment. Grant activities may also include staff training, redesigned workflows, performance measures, and plans for maintaining the improvements.
Alaska requires prospective foster parents and household members age 16 or older to undergo fingerprint-based criminal background checks. Unlicensed relatives, alternative caregivers, prospective adoptive parents and guardians are also subject to fingerprinting requirements.
Applicants can concurrently be fingerprinted at Office of Children’s Services field offices, Village Public Safety Officer locations, village police departments, and other local law enforcement agencies. OCS pays the fingerprinting and processing fees for foster-home applicants and household members.
Access is more complicated in communities without nearby state offices or regularly staffed law enforcement facilities, but Dompeling said mobile technology will allow fingerprinting services to be brought directly to rural areas.
Federal administrators describe that aging equipment and inefficient background-check systems can postpone approval of otherwise qualified caregivers, leading to children waiting longer for placement with relatives, foster families, or prospective adoptive parents.
Beyond purchasing equipment, the awards are designed to help recipients track whether modernization shortens processing times and expands the number of available homes.
Thursday’s announcement did not provide an implementation schedule for Alaska, Kawerak, or Knik Tribe.
