A Welcome Message from the Assistant Secretary
I am deeply honored to serve as Assistant Secretary at the Administration for Children and Families (ACF).
I come to Washington D.C. from Idaho, where my wife, Jen, and I are raising our six-year-old daughter, Emerson. If you haven’t been to Idaho, think jagged mountains, alpine lakes, winding rivers, and open skies. And yes, blue turf and potatoes. Idaho is hard to leave behind, but I feel called to this work.
For the past decade, I have led Idaho state agencies, including the state OMB and HHS equivalents. In my HHS capacity, we administered more than 100 federal grants, many under ACF’s purview. These experiences gave me firsthand perspective on the careful balance needed between partner innovation and federal oversight.
As Assistant Secretary, my priority will be improving child welfare outcomes.
Under the leadership of President Trump and Secretary Kennedy, we can Make America Healthy Again and deliver better results for children and families. To advance the MAHA agenda at ACF, I have sharpened our child welfare focus around a simple goal—to have homes waiting on kids, not kids waiting on homes. ACF’s new A Home for Every Child initiative will allow us to prioritize matters that safely decrease the number of children entering foster care through effective prevention, while also increasing the number of foster homes through diligent recruitment, prioritizing kin, and improving retention of existing caregivers.
A Home for Every Child is more than a slogan. It is our organizing principle, and it will drive our every action.
Consistent with administration priorities, as we pursue this wildly important goal, we will also reduce the regulatory burden that limits local decision-making and expose and eliminate wasteful spending to ensure taxpayer dollars are used efficiently and effectively.
I am grateful for the opportunity to lead this organization impacting millions of Americans and am confident that we will make a meaningful difference for our nation’s children and families.
With appreciation,
Alex J. Adams