A Home for Every Child

A Home for Every Child is a national initiative of the Administration for Children and Families focused on ensuring that every child has the opportunity to grow up in a safe, stable, and loving home.

The initiative is designed to address both sides of the child welfare equation by reducing entries into foster care through effective prevention and by increasing the availability of foster and kinship homes through stronger recruitment, kin-first approaches, and improved retention of caregivers.

At its core, A Home for Every Child is about right-sizing the ratio of available homes to children in need so that there are homes waiting on kids, not kids waiting on homes.

A happy multigenerational family hugging and having fun outside.

Alex J. Adams, PharmD, MPH, serves as Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families. Assistant Secretary Adams brings years of health, human services, education, and regulatory expertise to advance President Trump and Secretary Kennedy’s broader vision to Make America Healthy Again. Prior to leading ACF, Dr. Adams spent more than ten years in Idaho State Government. He led the Governor’s zero-based regulation initiative, which resulted in Idaho becoming the least regulated state in the nation. Dr. Adams also made significant efforts to improve Idaho’s child welfare system, enacting kin-specific licensing standards, announcing paid family leave for foster parents, extending foster care to age 23, and overseeing record recruitment and retention of foster homes. This webpage showcases resources that support the priorities identified by Assistant Secretary Adams.

Read More on Leadership: https://acf.gov/about/bio/alex-j-adams

Read More on A Home for Every Child: https://acf.gov/a-home-for-every-child

Building Soft Skills for Strong Families and Strong Employment Outcomes: Integrating Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) Relational and Employment Skills into TANF Programs Office Hours

Webinar / Webcast

Want practical ways to boost your program’s employment outcomes and help advance core purposes of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)? The Office of Family Assistance is sponsoring The Family Routes Initiative (FRI) to assist…

ACF Launches $7 Million Innovation Challenge to Help Achieve A Home for Every Child

Policy Announcement / Memoranda

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announced a new $7 million innovation challenge aimed at helping more children and youth find safe, stable, and permanent homes. The “A Home for Every Child Innovation Challenge” will reward…

Creating Extended Foster Care That Works for All: Insights, Youth Voice, and Action for Systems Change

Webinar / Webcast

When a young person turns 18 in foster care, the system too often just disappears. Extended foster care (EFC) programs exist to bridge that gap, keeping older youth connected to support as they transition into adulthood. But not all extended care…

Strategies for Using Data to Prioritize Kinship Care

Webinar / Webcast

When a child can't safely stay with their parents, the next best option is almost always a grandparent, aunt, uncle, or close family friend who already knows and loves them. Keeping that connection intact can make a profound difference in a child…

Opportunity Passport: Financial Capacity for Young People Who Experience Foster Care

Research-To-Practice Brief

Young people leaving foster care often face financial challenges as they transition to adulthood, including managing money, securing housing, and planning for future goals. This Annie E. Casey Foundation brief introduces their financial…

Building Family Economic Security

Report

The core mission of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is helping families reach self-sufficiency, but that goal is much harder when a parent is trying to go to school, raise children, and hold a job at the same time, all without…