IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) - The Trump administration may significantly undermine research on the effectiveness of child welfare programs by proposing to terminate several university grants that study improvements to Head Start and child care policy. This revelation emerged from a spreadsheet unintentionally made public by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) last week.
The document detailed more than 150 research projects that were under consideration for termination by HHS. These grants are funded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, an entity dedicated to generating evidence that can improve the lives of low-income children and families by assisting policymakers in evaluating effective programs.
Naomi Goldstein, who led the office for nearly twenty years before retiring in 2022, expressed concern over the potential cancellations: “These grants aim to learn how to enhance program effectiveness related to healthy child development, reducing abuse and neglect, and promoting economic self-sufficiency. It’s hard to see why they would want to cancel these efforts,” she stated.
The proposed terminations would aggravate the already substantial cuts enacted at HHS's Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Recent reports indicate that the ACF plans to close five regional offices and has recently laid off hundreds of workers. Staff numbers have reportedly plummeted from approximately 2,400 in January to 1,500, with indications that ACF may merge into other parts of HHS.
Other divisions within HHS, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, have already experienced cuts worth billions of dollars, notably in areas of public health, gender, and race studies—subjects that have drawn criticism from the Trump administration. Although the spreadsheet highlighted mass terminations of ACF grants, an HHS spokesperson later classified the document as “outdated draft material.”
The impact of these proposed terminations would further weaken Head Start, a 60-year-old program managed by ACF that offers preschool and related services to hundreds of thousands of low-income children. Recently, Head Start has faced mass layoffs and threats of complete funding elimination. The grants that are marked for termination include vital research aimed at enhancing program operations, such as initiatives to retain educators in local Head Start programs.
Furthermore, the spreadsheet indicated the planned cancellation of grants worth millions for innovative centers focusing on serving low-income Black and Hispanic children and families, which are located at Morehouse College in Atlanta and at a nonprofit in Maryland, respectively. Numerous grants related to child care policy, child development, foster care, and programs designed to prevent child abuse were also listed for termination, illustrating the broad scope of ACF's initiatives.
Former ACF deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development, Katie Hamm, criticized the move, asserting, “Ending these projects without explanation not only wastes taxpayer dollars, it also threatens the evidence base behind key safety net programs.” She further commented on the lack of transparency surrounding these potential cuts, noting that grantees and contractors learned about the situation through an accidental email rather than through an official process.
HHS personnel mistakenly included the termination spreadsheet in an email sent to grant recipients at various universities and nonprofits, asking them to update their contact information. Although the email was rescinded after it became clear that recipients had downloaded the spreadsheet, the spokesperson for HHS did not exclude the possibility of cuts to research programs within ACF.
Goldstein characterized the circumstances as reflecting "haste and chaos" within the agency. Notably, only 21 of the 177 listed grants were flagged for continued funding, while some were marked for termination at the end of the current budget period. The spreadsheet did not specify the total funding that would be cut, but it noted that the office was responsible for $154 million in grants and contracts for fiscal year 2024.
The list of affected entities included over 50 universities along with several state agencies and nonprofits. A follow-up email requested recipients to disregard the initial spreadsheet but still asked for contact updates. One anonymous researcher indicated they awaited formal notification of their grants' termination. Several others chose not to comment on the matter.
