Administration for Children and Families

Topics on this page: Summary of Activities that Continue | Summary of Contingency Staffing Plan

Summary of Activities that Continue

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) will continue Child Support and Foster Care services because they received full or advance appropriations in the FY 2019 appropriation process. Care of children in, and referrals to, the Unaccompanied Alien Children program will continue. ACF will also continue work to support disaster recovery funded by supplemental disaster appropriations. Head Start and other social services programs will continue previously funded operations.

Summary of Contingency Staffing Plan

In the event of a lapse of appropriations, 483 (38%) of ACF staff will be retained including 445 (35%) who are exempt (their activities or position are already funded or otherwise exempted) and 38 (3%) who are excepted (their activities are deemed necessary by implication, or for the safety of human life or protection of property).

Exempt Staff:

A total of 445 (35%) ACF staff will be exempt. Exempt ACF staff include two HHS Officers appointed by the President and 442 staff who support activities that have funding available during a lapse in appropriations.

ACF will continue operations to support funded programs, including issuance and management of grant and contract awards. Key activities to continue include operation of the Unaccompanied Alien Children program, issuance of grants to states under the Child Support and Foster Care programs, and management of disaster recovery work.

Excepted Staff:

A total of 38 (3%) ACF staff are considered excepted and can legally continue their activities in the absence of appropriations. These staff fall into three categories; 1) those whose work is necessary for the safety of human life, 2) those whose work is necessary for the protection of property, and 3) those whose work is "necessarily implied" from the authorized continuation of other activities or the need to phase down and suspend operations.

The activities that ACF will continue include administration of funded programs to ensure timely payments to grantees and contractors, and performing minimal timekeeping and budgetary operations to ensure an orderly phase down. All active disaster response operations or deployments that are ensuring the safety of human lives will continue regardless of current funding source. Staff in the ACF Office of the Chief Information Officer will also be excepted to ensure the maintenance and protection of ACF computer systems. Public Health Service Commissioned Corps Officers will also continue working under this exception.