ACF News

ACF announced grant awards totaling approximately $44 million across two ACF program offices — the Office of Community Services (OCS) and the Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) — to improve the financial well-being of children and families.

Today, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra issued a statement to mark the start of National Youth Homelessness Outreach, Prevention and Education (HOPE) Month.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released $3.7 billion to the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) to help households lower their home energy costs. The funds released today help households across the country maintain safe and healthy indoor temperatures, particularly during the winter season. 

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), announced more than $200 million in new awards to strengthen early childhood programs. 

The Joint Forced Labor Working Group (JFLWG), co-chaired by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) Office on Trafficking in Persons and Northwell Health , has issued guidance for the health care and public health sectors regarding the risk of forced labor in supply chains. This marks the first set of considerations jointly endorsed by both public and private sectors, specifically aimed at helping health care and public health organizations mitigate forced labor risks associated with purchased goods and services.  

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently selected the 2024-2025 fellows for the National Head Start Fellowship Program (NHSFP).

This fourth funding release comes during National Diaper Need Awareness Week and will support a new cohort of seven grant recipients with a total of $8.4 million in awards that will expand diaper distribution and additional wraparound support services for caregivers in six states and one tribe. This funding will also provide $7.5 million in supplemental awards to 13 grant recipients from the first two cohorts of the Diaper Distribution Pilot.  Today’s funding of $15.9 million brings the total funding allocated for the Diaper Distribution Pilot to $40.2 million since September of 2022. 

On July 30, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) released Vol. II of the Federal Indian Boarding School Initiative Investigative Report  (PDF). This report further illuminates how the federal government’s past assimilationist policies separated young Native children from their families and directly contributed to the dismantling of generations of Native families and their cultural connections. DOI’s work illustrates the connection between historical trauma and the current disparities Native people experience across legal, social and economic systems.

Today, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), through the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), announced a new final rule to strengthen Head Start’s ability to recruit and retain qualified staff, improve teacher wages and benefits, and provide consistent quality programming for the children and families they serve.

Today, a federal official joined leaders in Puerto Rico to announce the approval of a five-year child welfare prevention plan that aligns with the Family First Prevention Services Act (Family First). Administration on Children, Youth, and Families (ACYF) Commissioner Rebecca Jones Gaston joined Puerto Rico Governor Pedro Pierluisi, Department of Family Secretary Ciení Rodríguez Troche and Administration of Families and Children Administrator Glenda Gerena Ríos in a signing ceremony of Puerto Rico’s  prevention plan. Puerto Rico is the first U.S. territory to have an approved plan in place.