The TA Partnership provided technical assistance to state, regional, and county system of care communities currently funded to operate the Comprehensive Community Mental Health Services for Children and Their Families Program, including those that have juvenile justice- and child welfare-involved youth as a population of focus. The Partnership’s technical assistance efforts focused on helping communities build systems of care that are family-driven, youth-guided, culturally and linguistically competent, individualized, and community- and evidence-based to meet the mental health needs of children, youth, and families. The TA Partnership was a collaboration between two mission-driven organizations, AIR, and the National Federation of Families for Children's Mental Health, a national non-profit dedicated to effective family leadership and advocacy to improve the quality of life of children with mental health needs and their families.

The TA Partnership worked closely with system of care communities nationwide to help them meet the mental health, substance abuse, and other related needs of youth involved or at risk of involvement with the juvenile justice or child welfare systems in many different ways. For example, the Partnership assisted youth and their family members in understanding and navigating the juvenile justice and child welfare systems, advocating for mental health treatment and related services while in residential care, and effectively planning for and accessing community-based services and supports upon reentering the community. The TA team also worked closely with community agencies, organizations, and service providers to, among other things, implement effective mental health, risk, and other screening and assessment practices, provide youth-guided rehabilitative services that focus on positive youth development and create safer, healthier communities, and foster effective partnerships between the justice system, child welfare, mental health, education, and others.