One of the most sweeping early moves of the Trump Administration has come into clearer focus over the past few weeks: a quiet but devastating effort to transfer resources from children in low-income families to wealthy people.
The Administration for Children and Families—the division of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that promotes the well-being of children, families, and communities—isn’t headline grabbing. However, its programs are widely known and its impact is deeply felt in every American community. ACF oversees Head Start, child care subsidies, adoption support, domestic violence prevention, energy assistance, and workforce supports.
Despite the critical need for family services across the country, since January 2025 over 700 ACF staff have been fired, 5 of 10 regional offices have been shuttered, and many of the nation’s top child well-being experts have been locked out of their jobs. The agency that stands up for kids has lost approximately 40 percent of its staff in just three months.
Most Americans don’t know these changes are happening—but we will all feel the consequences.
This isn’t budget tightening or bureaucratic trimming. It’s a deliberate and chaotic dismantling of the basic infrastructure that protects kids and families. This will fundamentally reorient U.S. fiscal policy away from investment in the next generation and long-term innovation and prosperity, toward extreme inequality.
I’ve spent most of my career in the public sector and know efficiencies can be found in the federal government. This is not the way to do it. Closing regional offices will result in slower, poorer, service to states, territories, and Tribes seeking support, information, and flexibility. Gutting policy staff will stymie innovation and curtail oversight.
Looking ahead, the ongoing budget deliberations on Capitol Hill further escalate the immediate threat to child safety and well-being. The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program, known as LIHEAP, is slated for elimination, which would cut off energy assistance to six million households and force parents to choose between basic services like food or heat in Montana, and rent or air conditioning in Arizona. Despite serving nine million people, the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG) is zeroed out, defunding diapers for newborns and services for kids in foster care. In addition, a leaked version of Secretary Kennedy’s FY26 Budget proposed eliminating Head Start, which would rob nearly 800,000 children of early learning and health care services and put thousands of educators out of work at 17,000 Head Start centers across the country. While that proposal does not appear in the latest President’s Budget, the threat of future cuts remains.
These cuts would be in addition to the proposed cuts announced this week to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, serving 30 million children and 16 million children, respectively, and proposed changes to the Child Tax Credit that would take it away from 4.5 million children.
Child and family services aren’t just for “other people.” They’re part of the fabric that keeps communities stable. When they are cut or disappear, everyone feels the impact—in longer waitlists, fewer providers, and local organizations stretched to the breaking point.
Even if your family doesn’t receive direct aid, these programs support the institutions and services communities rely on. If you have kids in child care, you may not be getting a subsidy—but the Child Care and Development Fund may be the difference between your child care center staying open or closing. You may not receive support through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, but your state’s TANF grant may be the reason your Boys & Girls club continues to operate. Maybe you have never needed help paying your energy bills—but heating assistance might be keeping your elderly neighbor who looks after your pets in her home. Their loss is your loss, too.
The American dream cannot be an American reality if we don’t invest in our children. We should improve, not eliminate, basic needs programs like child care, energy assistance, and cash assistance. We should give child welfare experts a seat at the table, not a pink slip. And any changes to the tax code should support children, not enrich billionaires.
Larry Handerhan served as the Chief of Staff and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Management at the Administration for Children and Families from January 2021 to January 2025. He has over 15 years of experience implementing housing and human services programs at the local and federal level.