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Articles by Alex Adams
Less red tape, no ‘orphan tax’: How Trump’s ACF stopped bureaucrats from robbing foster youth
One year ago at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), I walked through the doors of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) with a simple conviction: Government should spend less time measuring activity and more time improving outcomes for children and families. That sounds obvious. But in human services, process has a way of becoming the product. Forms multiply. Guidance documents accumulate. Review processes get longer.
Children in Child Welfare are More Likely to be Prescribed Psychotropic Medication than Other Children on Medicaid: Findings from Florida and Kentucky
Publication Date Oct 7, 2026 The use of psychotropic medications in children is a complex issue for parents, caregivers, health care professionals, researchers, and policymakers. Psychotropic medications are used to treat behavioral health conditions. When these medications are prescribed appropriately, they can be effective in managing behavioral health symptoms. This brief looks at psychotropic prescribing patterns for children in the child welfare system and on Medicaid in two states.
A better path forward for Head Start
Head Start is worth defending. For more than 60 years, the program has helped prepare low-income children for kindergarten while connecting families with health care, nutrition, disability services and other critical supports. I have visited Head Start programs across the country and met the teachers, parents and local leaders who make that mission real every day. But defending Head Start requires confronting what has happened to the program in recent years. Start with access.
Opinion - A better path forward for Head Start
For more than 60 years, the program has helped prepare low-income children for kindergarten while connecting families with health care, nutrition, disability services and other critical supports. I have visited Head Start programs across the country and met the teachers, parents and local leaders who make that mission real every day. But defending Head Start requires confronting what has happened to the program in recent years. Advocates postulate nearly one million children depend on Head Start.
A Clearer Approach to Child Welfare Improvement Is Taking Shape
For 25 years, the federal government has reviewed state child welfare systems through the Child and Family Services Reviews. And for 25 years, not a single state has actually passed it, leading to cycles of program improvement plans (PIP) that didn’t move the needle. That is why the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) created the A Home for Every Child alternative to the traditional PIP. When we introduced this approach last December, it was still an experiment.
The Trump Administration’s Head Start Overhaul Explained
The Trump administration recently proposed a sweeping overhaul of the federal Head Start program, eliminating over 100 pages of federal regulations covering everything from playground mulch depth to class-size-to-staff ratios. While some called it a long-overdue deregulation of an early childhood program buried in federal requirements, other early childhood advocates are concerned that the reforms could undermine the future quality of the program. Are their concerns valid?
Greater Head Start flexibility will empower program leaders
This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Alex Adams is assistant secretary of Administration for Children and Families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and Lizbeth Casco White is director of the Office of Head Start within HHS. Head Start’s greatest strength is the people who make the program work.
Washington is strangling Head Start. We’re giving it back to parents
For more than 60 years, Head Start has represented one of America’s most important promises: that every child deserves a strong start in life. Over the past several months, I have visited Head Start centers across the country. In classrooms from rural communities to major cities, I have experienced the same inspiring environment again and again: deeply committed teachers, engaged students, and loving parents who want the very best for their children.
Every Foster Youth Deserves a Financial Head Start
Young people leaving foster care have the same hopes as other young adults. They want a safe place to live, an education or a meaningful career, reliable transportation, and the freedom to build a life of their own. Foster youth also face the same cost of living as their peers but often lack financial support from family amid the transition to adulthood. There is no replacement for the support network family provides, but we can make certain that these youth do not enter adulthood empty-handed.
Thirty years later, welfare reform needs its own reform
OPINION: The summer of 1996 marked a historic triumph for America. Our nation hosted the Olympics. Will Smith saved the world from aliens in the movie “Independence Day.” In Washington, a Republican-led Congress passed welfare reform, which President Clinton ultimately signed into law.
Owe child support? The Trump administration may revoke your passport
Parents owing $50,000 or more may have travel restricted for failure to pay A parent's passport can be revoked if they fail to pay child support thanks to a new Trump administration enforcement policy. The tool has proven effective in putting children first, compelling many noncustodial parents to immediately pay thousands in overdue child support, some making single payments of upwards of $100,000.
America's child care crisis needs more parental freedom — not more Washington control
Faith-based programs, home-based providers, relatives, and stay-at-home parents are all part of the vision For millions of American families, child care has become one of the defining affordability challenges of modern life. In communities across the country, the cost of care now rivals a mortgage payment or in-state college tuition . Parents are delaying having children or cobbling together unreliable arrangements simply because they cannot find affordable care that fits their family's needs.
What Program Improvement Can Look Like
In December, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) launched a significant shift in federal child welfare oversight: a pilot redesign of the Program Improvement Plan (PIP). For decades, PIPs have served as the primary mechanism for states to respond to findings from the Child and Family Services Reviews (CFSR).
Rolling Out the Welcome Mat for Prevention
When Congress passed the Family First Prevention Services Act, it made a simple but profound promise: that we would invest in keeping families safely together, not just in responding after a child has already entered foster care. President Trump has taken this sentiment further: “The best foster care system is one that is not needed in the first place.” That promise was — and remains — the right one. But we also need to be honest about the gap between aspiration and reality.
Rolling Out the Welcome Mat for Prevention
When Congress passed the Family First Prevention Services Act, it made a simple but profound promise: that we would invest in keeping families safely together, not just in responding after a child has already entered foster care. President Trump has taken this sentiment further: “The best foster care system is one that is not needed in the first place.” That promise was — and remains — the right one. But we also need to be honest about the gap between aspiration and reality.
Homes Waiting for Children, Not Children Waiting for Homes
President Donald J. Trump, alongside First Lady Melania Trump, recently signed the “Fostering the Future” executive order, aimed at improving child-welfare outcomes. The order issues a call to modernize the child-welfare system by updating regulations, improving the use and timeliness of child-welfare data, and expanding the use of tech solutions like predictive analytics.
A Home for Every Child: Refocusing the Nation’s Child Welfare System
One number cannot fix the child welfare system—but it can help to refocus the system’s goals.
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