Email mistake reveals secret plans to end research on Head Start and other child safety net programs

IOWA CITY, Iowa — The Trump administration could gut research on the effectiveness of child welfare programs, with plans to terminate dozens of university grants studying improvements to Head Start and child care policy, according to a spreadsheet mistakenly made public this week.

The document listed more than 150 research projects under consideration for termination by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It covered grants funded by the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation, which says it “builds evidence to improve lives” by helping policymakers evaluate programs that help low-income children and families.

“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,” said Naomi Goldstein, who led the office for nearly two decades before she retired in 2022. “It’s hard to see why they would want to cancel these efforts.”

The grant cancellations would add to deep cuts already enacted at HHS’ Administration for Children and Families, which plans to close five regional offices and abruptly fired hundreds of workers one month ago. Its staffing has dropped from approximately 2,400 in January to 1,500, former employees say, and the administration has said it will fold ACF into other parts of HHS.

Other HHS divisions, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, have already cut billions of dollars in grants, including those related to public health, gender, race and other subjects opposed by President Trump’s administration. The document released Wednesday marked the first news of plans for the possible mass terminations of ACF grants, although a department spokesperson later said it was only an outdated draft.

The proposed terminations would further undercut Head Start, the 60-year-old program overseen by ACF that supports preschool and services for hundreds of thousands of low-income children. Head Start has faced mass layoffs and a plan to eliminate its funding altogether in recent months. The grants facing termination included studies intended to answer key questions and improve its operations, such as how to retain more educators at local Head Start programs.

The spreadsheet also listed for termination grants worth millions of dollars for first-of-their-kind centers dedicated to better serving low-income Black and Latino children and families, located, respectively, at Morehouse College in Atlanta and at a nonprofit in Maryland.

Dozens of grants related to child care policy, child development, foster care, preventing child abuse, the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and more were also listed as set for cancellation, reflecting ACF’s widespread portfolio.

Those studies help policymakers understand what works, a former administration official said.

“Ending these projects without explanation not only wastes taxpayer dollars, it also threatens the evidence base behind key safety net programs,” said Katie Hamm, who was ACF’s deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development until January. “It’s alarming that grantees and contractors had to find out this way, through an accidental email, rather than a transparent process.”

The information was mistakenly included in an email sent Wednesday to grant recipients at universities and nonprofits by an HHS employee, who asked them to review and update their contact information.

HHS recalled the message only after the spreadsheet, which had a column on whether funding would “terminate” or “continue” for each grant, had been downloaded by recipients. A department spokesperson said the document contained “outdated and predecisional information” but did not rule out that research inside the ACF could be cut.

“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 said.

Goldstein, the former research office director, said the situation “does appear to reflect a level of haste and chaos” at the agency.

Only 21 out of 177 listed grants were marked with a note to “continue” funding in the document. A small number had already ended, and some were marked for termination “at the end of budget period.”

The document didn’t list how much funding in all would be cut, but the office was responsible for $154 million in grants and contracts in fiscal year 2024.

More than 50 universities were listed as having grants terminated. Several other state agencies and nonprofits would also be affected.

A follow-up email told recipients to disregard the spreadsheet, but again asked for updated contact information. One researcher who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation said they were expecting to receive formal notification soon that their grants would be ending. Several other grant recipients declined to comment.

Foley writes for the Associated Press.