Office of Child Care

The Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families is a civilian sub-agency within HHS that administers federal grants for child welfare, early childhood, family support, and related social services programs delivered by state and local agencies across the United States.

The Administration for Children and Families has obligated $268.44 billion in federal grant funding across 5,496 awards since 1998, with 450 distinct recipients. Recent activity shows 626 awards in 2022, 645 in 2023, 895 in 2024, 618 in 2025, and 2 year-to-date in 2026. The most recent recorded grant award closed in July 2026. Grant recipients are highly fragmented by award count—the top five recipients by award count account for only 2% of recent awards—though concentration by federal dollars is more pronounced. The Florida Department of Education, North Carolina Department of Health & Human Services, Tennessee Department of Human Services, Department of Children, Youth, and Families, and Louisiana Department of Administration collectively account for 7% of federal dollars obligated over the last five years, with Florida alone receiving $6.82 billion across 11 awards and North Carolina receiving $3.85 billion across 11 awards. Median recipient scale ranges from single-digit to mid-double-digit awards per entity, reflecting the agency's reliance on state child-welfare and early-childhood systems as the primary channel for federal funding distribution.

The grant portfolio is dominated by formula and block grants, which together account for 95% of awards. Formula grants represent 51% of awards (2,789 total), and block grants represent 44% (2,440 total). Project grants comprise 3% of awards (164 total), and Cooperative Agreements comprise 2% (103 total). This assistance-type composition reflects the agency's core role in allocating statutory entitlements and flexible funding pools to state human-services agencies rather than funding project-specific or collaborative initiatives at the federal level. The structure indicates limited opportunity for individual prime recipients or vendors to capture project-based federal funding directly from the agency; opportunities concentrate instead in state-level administration of federally-funded programs, subgrant management, and compliance consulting to state recipients.

No recent contract awards or contract opportunities are recorded against the agency or its descendant offices. No current open grant opportunities are recorded in the source material.