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

ACF Notifies 39 Governors That States Are Diverting Foster Youths’ Earned Social Security Survivor Benefits

Policy Announcement / Memoranda

In December 2025, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) sent letters to 39 governors, calling for immediate action to protect vulnerable foster youth in their states. The letters highlighted the pressing issue of state child welfare…

Evidence for Extended Foster Care

Report

This Annie E. Casey Foundation resource highlights the positive outcomes associated with extended foster care for young people transitioning to adulthood. The evidence shows that allowing youth to remain in care past age 18 can improve…

Resources for Navigating Foster Care: Support for Parents and Youth

Stakeholder Resource

Families and young people navigating the foster care system often face complex challenges that intersect with TANF goals, from economic hardship to employment barriers and service access. This GovFacts resource list offers supports for parents,…

Adapting to Fathers’ Needs: Creating Change Using Insights from Customer Journey Mapping

Research-To-Practice Brief

While an effective intake assessment helps build an initial impression of each father’s individual situation and needs, fatherhood program staff also know ongoing one-on-one and group interaction is needed to fully understand him and see who he…

Honoring and Supporting Grandfamilies & Kinship Families in Your Congregation

Fact / Tip Sheet

This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network tipsheet provides information about kinship families and the challenges they face and presents ideas to help faith communities better serve these families.

When Family Steps Up

Profile / Case Study

For every one child in kinship foster care, there are 19 children in kinship care outside of the formal child welfare system. These families are often referred to as “informal” kinship families because of their outside-of-the-system status and,…