A reorganization of the Administration for Children and Families in the Department of Health and Human Services has resulted in a more direct connection between the Head Start Bureau and the head of the agency that oversees the federal preschool program.
Late last month, the Head Start Bureau and its commissioner, Channell Wilkins, began reporting directly to the assistant health and human-services secretary for the ACF, Wade F. Horn. Previously, the Head Start Bureau was managed by the HHS Department’s Administration on Children, Youth, and Families, whose commissioner then reported to Mr. Horn.
The reorganization also moved the Child Care Bureau under the Office of Family Assistance, according to the office of Sen. Michael B. Enzi, R-Wyo., the chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee. Sen. Enzi used the announcement as an opportunity to urge the Senate to pass legislation reauthorizing the Head Start program. That legislation, which passed the House last September, has languished in the Senate.
