The federal government provides help for families and children primarily through the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The HHS is made up of eleven divisions that are responsible for various services that include, among others, the administration of grants to aid low-income families, providing health care coverage and information, and programs for family safety. The HHS has ten regional offices throughout the country to oversee the administration of these services in each state.
Administration for Children and Families
The primary agency through which the HHS provides help to families is the Administration for Children and Families (ACF). Each year, the federal government provides billions of dollars to fund programs to assist families and children, such as welfare, child care and child support. Families and children who receive services under these programs do so through local government and private agencies. The ACF is responsible for administering the federal funds to these local agencies. The ACF also provides policy and information guidance to the agencies.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
In 2006, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program became known as the TANF Bureau. Although it is the Bureau's responsibility to assist needy families, government funds are not given directly from the Bureau to families or individuals. The Bureau provides the funds in the form of grants to each state to be used for welfare programs. The Bureau gives the states significant flexibility to administer their own program. Some states use different names for their TANF program, such as Cal Works in California and Welfare Transition Program in Florida. A complete list of names for each state's TANF program is located on the Bureau's website (see Resources).
Health Care Coverage
The federal government helps low-income families with health care cost through its Medicaid program. The program is administered in partnership with the states, which results in health coverage and policies varying among the states. In general, a Medicaid recipient must have income under the federal poverty level to receive benefits. Other factors that may affect eligibility are age, pregnancy, or disability. Anyone who needs assistance to pay for health care should apply for Medicaid in order to make an accurate determination of eligibility (see Resources).
Health Care Information Online
The federal government also helps families by providing a wide variety of health related information through its website healthfinder.gov. The website is funded by the federal government and maintained by both the National Health Information Center and Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. The range of topics on the website is taken from health information provided by government and nonprofit organizations. The website also includes interactive tools such as myhealthfinder that can be used to obtain personalized health recommendations (see Resources).
Family Safety
The ACF also provides information related to family safety, including domestic violence, child abuse and child neglect. The ACF maintains a website called the Child Welfare Information Gateway that provides information and links to resources that assist with identifying, preventing and addressing maltreatment of children. Although the ACF does not handle specific cases of abuse, the website provides hotline information regarding how to report an abusive situation (see Resources).
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