The Administration for Children and Families (ACF), within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is responsible for almost 50 federal programs. ACF and its partners—other Federal agencies, State, local and tribal governments, and the private sector—support strategies which promote the economic and social well being of families, children, individuals, and communities.

These programs address the needs of vulnerable individuals throughout the country, including Native Americans, individuals with developmental disabilities, refugees and legalized aliens. They assist families in financial crisis, emphasizing short-term financial assistance along with assistance in obtaining and maintaining employment. ACF programs for children and youth focus on those with special problems. Included are children of low-income families, abused and neglected children, those in institutions or requiring adoption or foster family services, runaway youth, children with disabilities, migrant children, and Native American children.

ACF programs are diverse and wide-ranging: from Head Start to Low Income Home Energy Assistance, from Foster Care and Adoption Assistance to Child Support Enforcement and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), from Runaway Youth to Family Support and Preservation. In addition to programs focused on specific population groups, ACF oversees block grants that fund a range of social services for low-income individuals across the country.

ACF staff administer and manage grant programs in both the headquarters and regional offices. ACF has its headquarters in Washington, D.C., with 10 regional offices across the country grouped into five regional hubs: Northeast, Southeast, Midwest, West-Central and Pacific-West. Hub sites are located in the five ACF regional offices that serve the largest caseloads (New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and San Francisco). In FY 1998, ACF used 1569 FTE to administer its programs.

Organizationally, ACF is divided into eight program offices. These are: the Administration for Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), the Office of Family Assistance (OFA), the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE), the Administration on Developmental Disabilities (ADD), the Administration for Native Americans (ANA), the Office of Community Services (OCS), the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), and the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation (OPRE). These program offices receive support from five staff offices. These are: the Immediate Office of the Assistant Secretary (IOAS), the Office of Administration (OA), the Office of Regional Operations (ORO), the Office of Public Affairs (OPA) and the Office of

Legislative Affairs and Budget (OLAB). An ACF organization chart follows.

ACF’s mission is to provide national leadership and direction to plan, manage and coordinate the nationwide administration of comprehensive and supportive programs for vulnerable children and families. Through its Federal leadership, ACF seeks to produce:

• families and individuals empowered to increase their own economic independence and productivity;
• strong, healthy, supportive communities having a positive impact on the quality of life and the development of children;
• partnerships with individuals, front-line service providers, communities, American Indian tribes, Native communities, States, and Congress that enable solutions which transcend traditional agency boundaries;
• services planned, reformed, and integrated to improve needed access, and to promote stability, economic security, responsibility and self-sufficiency; and,
• a strong commitment to working with people with developmental disabilities, refugees, and migrants to address their needs, strengths, and abilities.

To accomplish these results, ACF programs have been grouped into 13 major programs, each of which has it’s own performance goals and measures. Each of these major programs is described below:

• Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Programs which promote work, responsibility and self-sufficiency and strengthen families through funding of State-designed and –administered programs that provide support to needy children and move their parents into work.
• Developmental Disabilities. Programs which enhance the ability of persons with developmental disabilities to live, work and play in their communities through supporting State and other programs that develop, coordinate and/or stimulate permanent improvement in service systems, with priority to those whose needs are not otherwise met under other health, education and human services programs;
• Refugee Resettlement. Programs which assist refugees and entrants who are admitted into the United States to become employed and self-sufficient as quickly as possible by providing grants to States and other grantees for employment-related services, social adjustment, transitional cash and medical assistance, and other services;
• Social Services Block Grant (SSBG). This block grant supports a variety of social services tailored to supplement State investments in the self-sufficiency and well-being of low income populations through State grants. SSBG funds also help improve and integrate services, create community-based partnerships, and stimulate innovations;
• Child Support Enforcement. This program locates parents, establishes paternity and support obligations and modifies and enforces those obligations to assure financial support is available to children. This work is done through State agencies that administer the program;
• Child Care. Programs which provide grants to States to assist low income working families who need child care that is affordable, and for activities to improve the safety and quality of care;
• Head Start. This program provides comprehensive child development services to children and families, primarily for preschoolers from low-income families through grants to local, public and private nonprofit agencies;
• Child Welfare. Programs fund State programs that provide services focused at assisting at-risk children and their families in achieving safety, permanence and well-being through preventive intervention services to strengthen the family unit; foster care and adoption assistance services to move children more rapidly from foster care to safe, permanent homes; and reunification services to facilitate the return home of the child if in the child’s best interests;
• Youth Programs. Programs support services from local agencies to reduce sexual abuse of runaway, homeless and street youth; provide alternate activities for at-risk youth and further the goal of providing safe passages for the nation’s youth, giving them the tools they need to successfully move from childhood to adulthood by stimulating positive development and preventing high-risk behavior. (A major focus includes looking at what works in all areas of youth development and disseminating best practices and proven products.);
• Community Services Programs. These programs provide an array of social services and programs to assist low-income individuals and alleviate the causes and conditions of poverty through flexible funding at the State and local level;
• Domestic Violence Programs. These programs fund the National Domestic Violence Hotline; support programs and projects to prevent incidents of family violence and provide immediate shelter and related assistance for the victims of family violence and their dependents, including grants for Battered Women’s Shelters; and support the work of five national resource centers.
• Low Income Home Energy Assistance (LIHEAP). This program assists low income households in meeting the costs of heating and cooling their homes, with emphasis on targeting assistance to households with high energy burdens and vulnerable members through block grants and emergency contingency funds to States, Indian Tribes, and insular areas;
• Native American Programs. These programs promote economic and social self-sufficiency of American Indians, Alaskan Natives, Native Hawaiians, and Native Pacific Islanders by supporting programs and encouraging local strategies in economic and social development.

The chart that follows identifies the individual ACF programs that are part of each major program.

Individual Programs Included in Each ACF Program Group

Temporary Assistance to Needy Families	Temporary Assistance to Needy Families TANF Contingency Fund Repatriation Predecessor Aid to Families with Dependent Children Programs
Developmental Disabilities	State Grants, Protection and Advocacy, Special Projects, University Affiliated Projects
Refugee Resettlement	Transitional and Medical Services, Social Services, Preventive Health, Targeted Assistance
Social Services Block Grant	Block Grant
Child Support Enforcement	State Child Support Administrative Costs, Federal Incentive Payments to States, Access and Visitation Grants, Sec. 1115 Research Grants, 1% Program Improvement Funds, 2% Expanded FPLS Funds
Child Care	Child Care and Development Block Grant, Child Care Entitlement to States
Head Start	Head Start, Early Head Start
Child Welfare	Children’s Research and Technical Assistance, Child Abuse State Grants, Child Abuse Discretionary Grants, Community Based Resource Centers, Abandoned Infants Assistance, Temporary Child Care and Crisis Nurseries, Foster Care, Adoption Assistance, Independent Living, Child Welfare Services, Child Welfare Training, Family Preservation and Support, Adoption Opportunities, Adoption initiatives
Youth Programs	Runaway and Homeless Youth, Education and Prevention Grants to Reduce Sexual Abuse of Runaway, Homeless and Street Youth, Runaway Youth Transitional Living
Community Services Programs	Block Grant and Discretionary programs
Domestic Violence Programs	Family Violence, Battered Womens’ Shelters, Domestic Violence Hotline
Low Income Home Energy Assistance	Block Grant
Native Americans	Native American Grants