On February 11, 2020, the United States Senate unanimously confirmed Bryan H. Samuels as Commissioner of the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
ACF is the federal agency that partners with state, territory, local and tribal organizations to provide family assistance, child support, child care, Head Start, child welfare and other programs relating to children and families. In this capacity, ACF administers a number of programs that support court-involved youth and youth at risk of coming into contact with the juvenile justice system, including prevention and intervention services authorized under the federal Runaway and Homeless Youth Act (RHYA).
According to the press release, Mr. Samuels has a long history of formulating service delivery innovations and streamlining operations in large government organizations on behalf of children, youth and families, largely motivated by his own success in overcoming great personal hardship during his eleven and half years of growing up in a residential school for disadvantaged children. His prior experience includes service as Chief of Staff for Chicago Public Schools and Director of the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, the nation’s third largest child welfare agency.
To read the official announcement by HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius and learn more about Mr. Samuels, [1] click here.
[1]: http://www.dhhs.gov/news/press/2010pres/02/20100212c.html