With plans to cancel scores of university grants investigating changes to Head Start and child care policies, the Trump administration may stifle research on the efficacy of child welfare programs, according to a spreadsheet that was inadvertently released this week.
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services was considering ending more than 150 research initiatives, according to the document.
Grants from the Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, which claims to “build evidence to improve lives” by assisting policymakers in assessing initiatives that support low-income families and children, were covered.
Naomi Goldstein, who oversaw the agency for almost 20 years before retiring in 2022, stated, “These grants are aimed at learning how to make programs more effective at pursuing goals like 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.”
The grant cancellations would be in addition to the severe budget cuts already implemented at HHS’ Administration for Children and Families, which one month ago unceremoniously laid off hundreds of employees and plans to liquidate five regional offices.
Former employees claim that its workforce has decreased from about 2,400 in January to 1,500, and the administration has stated that it will integrate ACF into other HHS divisions.
Billions of dollars in grants, including those pertaining to public health, gender, racism, and other topics that President Donald Trump’s administration opposes, have already been slashed by other HHS departments, including the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Although a department spokeswoman later claimed it was merely an old draft, the document, which was made public on Wednesday, was the first indication of planning for the potential mass terminations of ACF funding.
Head Start, a 60-year-old program run by ACF that provides preschool and services to hundreds of thousands of low-income children, will be severely undermined by the proposed terminations.
In recent months, Head Start has had to deal with widespread layoffs and a proposal to completely stop receiving money.
Studies aimed at addressing important issues and enhancing its operations, like how to keep more teachers at nearby Head Start programs, were among the funds that were about to be terminated.
The document also included terminated grants totaling millions of dollars for first-of-its-kind facilities at a nonprofit in Maryland and Morehouse College in Atlanta that are devoted to better helping low-income Black and Hispanic children and families.
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As a reflection of ACF’s extensive portfolio, dozens of grants pertaining to child care policy, child development, foster care, combating child abuse, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, and other topics were also mentioned as being scheduled to be cancelled.
According to a former administration official, those studies assist policymakers in understanding what works.
An HHS employee accidentally included the information in an email that was sent to grant recipients at organizations and universities on Wednesday, asking them to update their contact details.
Only after recipients received the spreadsheet, which included a column indicating whether money would “terminate” or “continue” for each grant, did HHS remember the message. Although the letter included “outdated and predecisional information,” a government official would not rule out cutting research conducted within the ACF.
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“ACF is committed to ensuring that government funds are used in alignment with Administration priorities and are in the best interest of the American people,” spokesperson Andrew Nixon stated.
The situation “does appear to reflect a level of haste and chaos” at the agency, according to Goldstein, the former director of the research office.
Out of the 177 awards listed, only 21 had a note in the document to “continue” financing. Some were scheduled to be terminated “at the end of budget period,” while a few had already expired.
In fiscal year 2024, the office was in charge of $154 million in grants and contracts; however, the letter did not specify the total amount of funding that would be reduced.
Grant terminations were reported for over 50 colleges. Numerous additional charitable organizations and state agencies would also be impacted.
Recipients were instructed to discard the spreadsheet in a subsequent email, which also requested updated contact details.
According to a researcher who spoke on condition of anonymity to prevent reprisals, they anticipate receiving official notice that their grants are about to expire.
