The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) promotes the economic and social well-being of children, families, and communities across the country. As part of this mission, ACF actively listens to and engages with those it serves to ensure the compassionate and effective delivery of human services. The ACF Parent Engagement Report summarizes recent listening sessions ACF held with parents and caregivers from diverse backgrounds who have a range of experiences with ACF programs. The report shares a glimpse into the insights that parents shared from each of these listening sessions and highlights a few examples of how ACF has been and continues to be responsive to their feedback and recommendations. Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) promotes the economic and social well-being of children, families, and communities across the country. As part of this mission, ACF actively listens to and engages with those it serves to ensure the compassionate and effective delivery of human services. The ACF Parent Engagement Report summarizes recent listening sessions ACF held with parents and caregivers from diverse backgrounds who have a range of experiences with ACF programs. The report shares a glimpse into the insights that parents shared from each of these listening sessions and highlights a few examples of how ACF has been and continues to be responsive to their feedback and recommendations. Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

En Español (PDF) Supporting the behavioral health of children, families, and youth is an essential priority for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). We see youth and families facing mental health challenges, substance use struggles, and high levels of stress. In partnership with federal, state, tribal, territorial, and local partners, as well as youth and families themselves, we have — through prioritizing actions and investments — further integrated behavioral health support and services into existing supports for youth and families. This enables us to promote behavioral health, foster recovery, cultivate resilience, and strengthen overall well-being among individuals and communities across the country. I’m proud of the work ACF has done — and will continue to do — in partnership with all of you to address the President’s Strategy to Address our National Mental Health Crisis and the HHS Roadmap for Behavioral Health Integration . I’d like to highlight in this email some of our work and accomplishments to improve behavioral health for children, youth, and families. ACF is committed to centering and partnering with youth, families, and communities and learning from their experiences and expertise as we transform behavioral health in this country. The ACF team and I have regularly listened to, engaged with, and co-developed several behavioral health resources. These engagements have informed behavioral health activities, policy, and communications to better reach and serve children, youth, parents, and caregivers. A few examples of ACF’s engagements include: As part of this commitment, we recently launched our ACF and Behavioral Health webpage to expand access to resources for communities, parents and caregivers, teens and young adults, tribes, grantees, and service providers. Included online are resources to support the prevention, treatment, and recovery from behavioral health conditions; recognize, manage, and support children’s mental health needs; and address substance use during pregnancy. We have also dedicated a webpage specifically for early childhood behavioral health resources. I encourage you to share these resources within your networks and to note that near the top center of the webpage is a tool to translate the information into a variety of languages; ACF is committed to promoting language access. In the coming months, we will be making additional changes and adding new resources, including several Spanish language resources. We are working with partners across the federal government to increase access to culturally and linguistically relevant support for youth and families served by ACF programs. A few examples of ACF’s efforts to improve access to culturally and linguistically relevant resources include: ACF has been a partner in launching the first-ever HHS Children and Youth Resilience Challenge , which is investing in innovative, community-led solutions to advance the mental health of children and youth. Later this month, ACF will be announcing finalists for Phase 1 of the Challenge to support the mental health of children. Last year, we partnered with Instituto del Desarrollo de la Juventud and the U.S. Census Bureau to develop new solutions to enhance children’s resilience to adversity in Puerto Rico (PDF). The collaborative process led by The Opportunity Project brought together youth, tech, academic, and community partners to address the challenge by building public-facing products informed by open federal data. ACF values and welcomes your partnership to support behavioral health of children, youth, and families. We are in this work together. With thanks for your leadership, January Contreras Assistant Secretary Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

ACF Children Bureau resource Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

ACF Agency Wide resource Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

The Children's Bureau Data Analytics and Reporting Team held an AFCARS Open Office Hours for the implementation of AFCARS 2020 in December 2022. This session was for state and tribal program administrators, child welfare data leaders, and information system programmers. It was an opportunity to ask questions specific to an agency's implementation. Below is the slide deck of the question and answers that were presented during the session. Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

The Children's Bureau Data Analytics and Reporting Team held an AFCARS Open Office Hours for the implementation of AFCARS 2020 in December 2022. This session was for state and tribal program administrators, child welfare data leaders, and information system programmers. It was an opportunity to ask questions specific to an agency's implementation. Below is the slide deck of the question and answers that were presented during the session. Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

This Technical Bulletin provides the Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) response to the comments solicited in the November 27, 2018 Federal Register Notice (83 FR 60874) inviting state child welfare agencies, partner organizations, and the public to review, test, and provide comments on the revised syntax that performs data quality checks and calculates observed performance on the Child and Family Services Review (CFSR) statewide data indicators. Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

This report provides preliminary estimates of Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data for FY 2019. As states are permitted to resubmit AFCARS data, the estimates may change over time. This report reflects all AFCARS data received as of June 23, 2020 related to AFCARS reporting periods through September 30, 2019. Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.

This report provides preliminary estimates of Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System (AFCARS) data for FY 2021. As states are permitted to resubmit AFCARS data, the estimates may change over time. This report reflects all AFCARS data received as of June 28, 2022 related to AFCARS reporting periods through September 30, 2021. Metadata-only record linking to the original dataset. Open original dataset below.