Overview:
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The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is a “principal operating division” of the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS).ACF oversees and finances social and economic programs for vulnerable children and families, designed to “help them and develop toward a more independent, self-reliant life.” Targeted groups include Native Americans, persons with developmental disabilities, refugees and legalized aliens. Programs are carried out by state, county, city and tribal governments, as well as public and private local agencies. Critics argue that ACF, a relatively new administration, has been deployed as a forum to push the Bush Administration’s more conservative initiatives - funneling money to (discredited) abstinence-only programs and marriage promotion grants.
History:
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The Department of Health and Human Services created the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) as a principal operating division in 1991. The new Administration merged employees and functions of the Family Support Administration (FSA) and the Office of Human Development Services (OHDS).
Under former Secretary Wade Horn (2001-2007) in particular, the ACF promoted policies that appear to pander to the religious right and socially conservative elements - like marriage promotion for poor women as an anti-poverty strategy, reduced access to higher education for welfare recipients (due to a “work-first” mandate), a willfully ignorant chastity strategy for both youth and adults, and Horn’s personal expertise: conservative marriage promotion in the guise of healthy fatherhood.
In 2004, authority over the federal abstinence-only-until marriage program (funded by Section 510 of the Social Security Act, Title V) was transferred from the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), traditionally the province of federal health programs (including for HIV/AIDS, rural and minority health), to the arguably more conservative ACF. The move, note health advocacy groups, signals a parallel one - from health and rights-based sexual education to the Bush Administration’s ideologically fueled, discriminatory family initiatives. Abstinence-only programs have been largely discredited in Congressional and independent reports, as well as by medical and professional communities, but continue to receive massive federal funding, held in place by the comprehensive network that arose under Horn’s leadership. (See Debate section).
The Expensive Failure of Abstinence Education (by Amy DePaul, AlterNet)
What it Does:
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ACF develops and implements national policy on families and children, providing leadership and coordination for a national network of public and private programs. ACF administers federal funds for short-term financial assistance, as well as education, training and employment for long-term stability. Program focus includes marginalized groups such as Native Americans, refugees, legalized aliens and people with developmental disabilities. Child and Youth programs focus on those with special problems, including “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’s “Key Priorities” include youth development, healthy marriage, fatherhood and faith-based initiatives, rural communities, early literacy, welfare reform, prevention over intervention, and service-delivery improvement.
Services include Adoption & Foster Care, Child Abuse & Neglect, Child Care, Child Support, Disabilities, Energy Assistance, Head Start, Healthy Marriage Initiative, Human Trafficking, Native American Tribal, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).
Initiatives
Campaign to Rescue & Restore Victims of Human Trafficking, Faith-Based and Community Initiative, Healthy Marriage Initiative, and the Responsible Fatherhood Initiative.
Programs
Programs include the Administration for Native Americans, Administration on Children, Youth and Families (ACYF), Administration on Developmental Disabilities, Assets for Independence, Child Care Bureau, Child Support Enforcement, Children's Bureau, Compassion Capital Fund, Division of Tribal Services, Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities Program, Family and Youth Services Bureau, Healthy Marriage Initiative, Low Income Home Energy Assistance, Office of Community Services, Office of Family Assistance (TANF/AFDC/JOBS), Office of Financial Services, Office of Head Start (OHS), Office of Legislative Affairs and Budget, Office of Planning Research and Evaluation, Office of Public Affairs (OPA), Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), Office of Regional Operations, The President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities, and Public Assistance Reporting Information System (PARIS) - as well as regional offices. (Below)
Organization
Regional Offices
Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont
Region 2 - New York
New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands
New Jersey, New York, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands
Region 3 - Philadelphia
Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia
Delaware, District of Columbia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia
Region 4 - Atlanta
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee
Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Tennessee
Region 5 - Chicago
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin
Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, and Wisconsin
Region 6 - Dallas
Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas
Arkansas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas
Region 7 – Kansas City
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska
Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska
Region 8 - Denver
Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming
Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming
Region 9 - San Francisco
Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau
Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Guam, Marshall Islands, and Republic of Palau
Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington
Suggested Reforms:
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Bipartisan suggestions for reform tend to be predictable - with Democrats tackling the ideological nature of ACF’s family programs and conservative welfare reform, and Republicans attempting to redirect welfare funding to marriage and faith-based initiatives. The result is a wrestling over funds and ideology - with the nation’s neediest families and children caught in the divide.
More practical criticism and suggestions for reform, including from Congressional reviews, and for various programs including Head Start and Abstinence-Only, tend to focus on HHS and the accuracy and reliability of the data that ACF collects and employs.
Welfare Reform
Since the major welfare overhaul in 1996 (when Clinton signed The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996), the number of people receiving assistance has dramatically declined (though poverty levels in the U.S., especially for children, remain at unacceptable levels). And though the 1996 reforms made few changes directly to child welfare policy, many provisions have a direct impact. Since Bush took the office, he has given significant power-share to conservative religious groups who manage to muscle their way into the restructuring of welfare and other ACF services toward socially conservative family, faith-based and marriage promotion plans. (Please see Debate and Former Director sections for more information on ACF and the Bush Administration).
Welfare Reform: HHS Should Exercise Oversight to Help Ensure TANF Work Participation Is Measured Consistently across States (GAO Report) (PDF)
From the Right
Read Patrick Fagan’s “scientific” research about marriage and the ill effects of divorce, and his recommendations for beefing up the Marriage Initiative by stealing funds from TANF, child support enforcement, and family planning programs:
The Federal and State Governments, Welfare and Marriage Issues (by Patrick F. Fagan, Ph.D, Testimony, Heritage Foundation)
Welfare Reform’s Implications for the Child Welfare Systems
(by April Kaplan, Welfare Information Network)
Debate:
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The ACF is assailed from both sides of the political spectrum - by Democrats for being a weak puppet of the Bush Administration, and from the right for wasting tax-payer dollars on the poor.
Abstinence-Only Education
The federal definition of “abstinence education” prohibits federally funded programs from discussing the effectiveness of condoms and contraception in preventing disease transmission and pregnancy - except in negative terms (failure rates). Independent government reports have recently revealed that many programs also discourage the use of condoms and contraception and give youth medically inaccurate information.
Sexual and reproductive health and rights of youth, as codified in international law, include the right to comprehensive and relevant information. The principle of abstinence-only-until-marriage education (AOUM) is based on the denial of critical information about sexual and reproductive health and rights - including disease transmission. Moreover, AOUM programs are by their very nature discriminatory. Program administrators are bound by a tight definition that alienates and stigmatizes youth who are or have been sexually active, those who have been sexually abused, and marginalized groups such as gay and lesbian youth.
Unproven, Ineffective
In 2004, a committee headed by Rep. Henry Waxman (D-CA) prepared a report based on a review of the curricula of more than a dozen abstinence-only programs - and found that two-thirds of federally funded abstinence-only programs distribute “false, misleading, or distorted information about reproductive health.” (Roundtable)
In a December 2004 article, the Washington Post summed up the Waxman Committee’s findings as follows: “Many American youngsters participating in federally funded abstinence-only programs have been taught over the past three years that abortion can lead to sterility and suicide, that half the gay male teenagers in the United States have tested positive for the AIDS virus, and that touching a person's genitals ‘can result in pregnancy’…”
In 2006, the Society for Adolescent Medicine labeled the AOUM programs “scientifically and ethically flawed,” noting, as many have long maintained, that the “efficacy of abstinence-only interventions may approach zero.” The same year, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) published a study criticizing Health and Human Services (HHS) and ACF for providing inaccurate information about condom use and effectiveness. The 2006 report was the result of a request from 20 Congress members, and included the following criticism of ACF - “which administers the two programs that account for the largest portion of federal spending on abstinence-until-marriage education, does not review or require its grantees to review program materials for scientific accuracy. In addition, not all grantees of the State Program have chosen to review their materials. Because of these limitations, ACF cannot be assured that the materials used in its State and Community-Based Programs are accurate.” (GAO Report 2006)
In 2007, the government commissioned a study from Mathematica Policy Research, Inc. on Title V AOUM programs, which showed the programs did not impact teen behavior. (Source: Advocates for Youth).
History/Funding
While Washington Post coverage of the issue (see article below) notes that Congress first allocated funds for abstinence-only programs in 1999, domestic abstinence-only-until-marriage programs actually date as far back as the Reagan Administration. Since then, funding has steadily increased, ballooning to $1.5 billion (in direct and channeled funds) between FY1996 and FY 2006. In FY 2001 President Bush significantly increased funding, and by FY 2007 allocations totaled $176 million, with recommendations for FY 2008 and FY 2009 at $204 million.
Funding is primarily distributed through the following initiatives: the Adolescent Family Life Act, Title V Welfare Reform Act, and Community-Based Abstinence Education. AOUM programs are delivered by schools and youth development groups, human service agencies, faith-based organizations and pregnancy crisis centers. (Source: Roundtable)
According to SIECUS, alternative channels - such as Congressional earmarked funds - also pump money into the programs:
“In both Fiscal Years 2004 and 2005, Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA) earmarked over $3 million in federal funds for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs in his home state of Pennsylvania. Conservative organizations such as the Abstinence Clearinghouse and the Medical Institute (formerly known as the Medical Institute for Sexual Health), have also received funds specially earmarked by Congress. Increasingly, abstinence-only-until-marriage providers are also receiving funds through traditional HIV/AIDS and STD prevention accounts such as those administered by HHS and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).”
Community-Based Abstinence Education and ACF
In FY 2005 ACF began administering the Community-Based Abstinence Education programs (originally known as Special Projects of Regional and National Significance–Community-Based Abstinence Education, now referred to as CBAE), under which federal funding bypasses state approval and is awarded directly to community-based organizations. CBAE-funded programs are required to teach all eight points in the federal “abstinence education” definition. Critics logically fear that the more restrictive standards are an attempt by conservative lawmakers to control the flow of funds to programs that adhere to a more ideologically driven agenda.
A Brief History of Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Funding (No More Money)
More Information
Some Abstinence Programs Mislead Teens, Report Says (by Ceci Connolly, Washington Post)
Title V-Funded Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Program Finds New Home Within HHS (SIECUS Policy Update)
A Brief History of Abstinence-Only-Until-Marriage Funding (No More Money)
The Expensive Failure of Abstinence Education (by Amy DePaul, AlterNet)
The Abstinence Gluttons (by Michael Reynolds, The Nation)
Abstinence Education: Efforts to Assess the Accuracy and Effectiveness of Federally Funded Programs (GAO Report) (PDF)
Study Casts Doubt on Assumptions behind Abstinence-Only Education (Right Wing Watch)
Marriage Promotion
Pushed to the Altar: The Right Wing Roots of Marriage Promotion (by Dr. Jean V. Hardisty, PublicEye.org)
(by Anne Farris, Roundtable on Religion and Social Welfare Policy)
Former Directors:
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Wade Horn
Before joining the ACF as Secretary in July 2001, Wade Horn founded and ran the conservative National Fatherhood Initiative in 1994 with funding from the Religious Right. At ACF he oversaw a mélange of programs highly palatable to the religious right and social conservatives - most notably abstinence-only education (he extended chastity strategy to adults) but also harmful and discriminatory welfare reform and the promotion of (exclusively heterosexual) marriage and traditional values as a means/in place of social and economic development - even suggesting that Headstart should be limited to children of married couples. He awarded his organization, the National Fatherhood Initiative, with a “capacities-building” grant of just under a million dollars from a program he started in the HHS, the Responsible Fatherhood Initiative. Horu left ACF in April 2007.
The Abstinence Gluttons (by Michael Reynolds, The Nation)
Wade Horn cashes out: Former Department of Health and Human services official signs on as a consultant with Deloitte Consulting LLP after questions are raised about federal government grants and abstinence-only sex education programs (by Bill Berkowitz, Media Transparency)
Wade's Horn of plenty (by Bill Berkowitz, Smirking Chimp)
The Marrying Man: HHS Marriage Maven Manages Bush Administration's Marriage Promotion Efforts through Coalition of the Shilling (by Bill Berkowitz, Media Transparency)
Hand That Feeds (by Cyn Cooper, Talk to Action Blog)
Blowing the Whistle on Wade Horn (blog, The Revealer)
Deconstructing the Propaganda on Fatherhood: Liz responds to yet another editorial from the prolific Wade F. Horn (Liz Horn, Liz Library)
- Table of Contents
- Overview
- History
- What it Does
- Where Does the Money Go
- Controversies
- Suggested Reforms
- Comments
- Leave a comment
Founded: 1991
Annual Budget: $45.6 million (2009)
Employees: 1,800
Official Website: http://www.acf.hhs.gov/
Administration for Children and Families
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