Healthy development is the foundation for a healthy life from infancy through adolescence.
Children and adolescents need social and community supports to navigate a safe and healthy passage throughout their formative years. HHS programs help to meet the diverse health, social and educational needs of children. HHS also administers large-scale grant programs that fund state and community efforts related to foster care and adoption assistance, welfare reform, prenatal and maternity care, child abuse prevention and treatment, child support enforcement, substance abuse and mental health, and other health and social service needs across the country. Consistent with the President's overall budget, the HHS budget meets the nation's priority needs while being responsible with the taxpayers' money. The budget also proposes several new HHS initiatives targeting some of the children left behind by existing programs, such as efforts to provide after-school child care services, to help children of prisoners maintain their family ties, and to provide supervised group homes for young mothers and pregnant women.