ACF is Heading into 2023 with Momentum

February 3, 2023
| January Contreras, ACF Assistant Secretary
Smiling African American parents giving children a piggyback ride

As we kick off a new year, we first reflect on the work of the past one. Last year, we found creative solutions to tough problems, and we kicked off new initiatives and programs. I’m so proud of my colleagues who found innovative ways to promote the well-being of children, families, and communities.  

In 2023, we will continue our successful strategies and devote energy to new ways to help families. We will move forward driven by a set of eight priorities to support equity, prevention, and whole families. Our work is designed to support families in ways that empower them not only to survive challenging times but to thrive. We know our partners share many of these same priorities as we work side by side.

Here are our eight priorities and examples of how we’ll work to advance each of them:

ACF 2023 Priorities: Pursue Operational Excellence, Fulfill Nation-to-Nation Commitment to Tribes, Economic Stability, Advance Opportunity for Young Adults, Strengthen Early Childhood, Increase Child and Family Safety and Well-Being, Support Human Services Workforce, Integrate Mental Health Supports

 

 

Increase Child and Family Safety and Well-being

This priority is the heart of what we do at ACF.  Our work focused on prevention and disaster preparedness and response throughout the human services sector are key pieces of this work. We move forward to build safety and wellness informed by dialogue with young people and families who have experienced the foster care system, as well as human trafficking and domestic violence providers and survivors.  We carry this out as we increase supportive services to refugees and strengthen our care for unaccompanied children. I have met with LGBTQI+ youth who share how to better support them in ACF-funded systems, with tribes to discuss protecting the ICWA gold standard values, and with grandparents and other kin who are seeking more equitable support when they take over caregiving roles. These are all part of strengthening safety and wellness. We’re also advancing this priority by implementing the Family First Prevention Services Act. We’ve taken a 50-state strategy to engage with state human services and child welfare leaders to support children and families with greater access to mental health services, substance use treatment, and parenting skills training, and we’re meeting with tribal and territorial leaders to understand the opportunities and challenges ahead. We are committed to the intent of FFPSA - moving services upstream to keep more families together.

Strengthen Early Childhood Sector for Families

The focus on early childhood care and education in this Administration is strong every day. We’ll keep working so that more families have access to affordable child care because it sets kids up for success and supports economic mobility for parents. We will provide leadership that promotes quality, safe, and healthy child care and early learning for kids, families, and support for the professionals in this field. Last year, I visited BAHIA Vida Center, a bilingual early to school age care and education program, and it was inspiring to hear how the American Rescue Plan made a difference for their operations.

 

 

 

Advance Opportunity for Young Adults

All young people deserve to have promising paths and opportunities ahead of them. That’s why we’ll stay focused on enhancing supports for youth who are exiting foster care to support successful independence. At the same time, we will be working to increase our efforts on prevention and on increasing housing stability for young adults, including those who are pregnant and parenting. It can make all the difference to safety, stability, and opportunity. Last year, I met with alumni of the foster care system who are now interning on the Hill, and it was so rewarding to see them promoting policy recommendations based on their own lived experience. ACF will be a champion for their success alongside them.

Build Economic Stability and Mobility

ACF works every day to support families as they seek economic stability and upward mobility. We’ll continue to support economic mobility in other ways, including a renewed focus on TANF to reach those with the greatest need. We also will be supporting utility assistance to those in need, implementing an expanded demonstration project to distribute diapers, and launching the Advancing Equity in Child Support demonstration program. Our work on tribal economic development and rural economic development is also key to work building economic mobility. We are excited to move these efforts forward.

Fulfill our Nation-to-Nation Commitment to Tribes

ACF works to strengthen our government-to-government relationship with tribes to support the well-being of Native American children and families. We’re providing funding that helps preserve Native languages, and supporting the well-being of children and families by promoting best practices and collaboration between tribes, states, and courts. And when it comes to early learning, we’ve launched a new Tribal Early Learning Initiative to work across systems including child care, Head Start, home visiting, preschool, and other early childhood programs. We know that early childhood spaces can promote learning while also preserving culture, developing confident young individuals, and more.

 

Integrate Mental Health Supports

One pillar of President Biden’s Unity Agenda is prioritizing access to mental and behavioral health services, and ACF heard this call to action. Everywhere I go people share the need for more mental health supports, whether I’m meeting with those who are touched by child welfare, homelessness, trafficking, family violence, or economic struggles.  We’ve also been meeting with parents to hear about their experiences and what works and doesn’t when they need to access behavioral health supports for their children. ACF programs are launching new best practices and training and technical assistance in areas ranging from child welfare to Head Start. We look forward to this work in 2023.

Support Human Services Workforce

ACF recognizes that while working in human services can be very rewarding, it can also be very tough work. That’s why we’re focused on partnering across ACF and with our grant recipients to build supports that will promote solutions to help the human services sector recruit, develop, and retain the workforce needed. In the early childhood sectors, we know that higher compensation and benefits are critical to recruiting and retaining the strong early childhood workforce that our country needs. We are launching the National Early Care and Education Workforce Center to support our partners. We also are working across ACF programs to address workforce shortages in child welfare and throughout the human services sector, including child welfare.

 

Pursue Operational Excellence

To achieve our other priorities, we must ensure ACF has the infrastructure and support to continuously improve and innovate across all program offices. Our pursuit of operational excellence is guided by the values of equity, transparency, ethical stewardship, efficiency, innovation, and always putting our people first. From support to our incredible ACF workforce, to data and IT capacities, and grants management, we are committed to building an even stronger ACF this year.

In Closing

ACF is excited to enter 2023 with momentum to deliver for children, families, and individuals in small towns, large cities, and tribal lands throughout our nation. We value our partners — all of you — who are also dedicated to strengthening the well-being of children and families across the country. Throughout the year, we’ll update you on our progress to further these priorities through blog posts and in person and virtual events. We welcome your suggestions on how to highlight the work happening in your communities and organizations.  On to delivering outcomes in 2023 that matter for the people we serve across our nation.