Democratic Women’s Caucus Demands Workers Trump Admin Fired be Reinstated at Office of Head Start & Office of Child Care

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Democratic Women’s Caucus members led by Chair Teresa Leger Fernández (NM-03), Vice Chairs Emilia Sykes (OH-13) and Hillary Scholten (MI-03), and Policy Task Force Co-Chairs Deborah Ross (NC-02), and Sydney Kamlager-Dove, led 44 DWC members in a letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to demand that the workers the Trump administration fired from the Office of Head Start and Office of Child Care be reinstated. 

It was reported that 20% of the Office of Head Start and 25% of the Office of Child Care were fired. The Offices help women and families across the country access child care, including by deploying the funds states and Head Start centers rely on. At a time when child care is already difficult to access and unaffordable for far too many Americans, the firings could lead to a reduction in services, having a trickle down impact and disrupting child care access.

These firings at HHS are part of the over 60,000 federal employees that President Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE have fired so far—public servants, many recently promoted, who are serving their communities, and women and families across the country.

In their letter, the Members explain why firing employees at HHS is a direct attack on women and families across the country:

“These actions will devastate the over 778,420 children and their families in every corner of the country who rely on Head Start for child care and education. While Elon Musk believes that women and families who benefit from these programs are parasites, we know that these programs provide hard working families with crucial services. Further, it is the dedicated federal workers who allow these essential services to support families across the nation.”

The Members continued, “Thousands of families will feel the ripple effects of these firings across the country. By significantly reducing ACF [Administration for Children and Families] staff, programs could experience delays in receiving grants and technical assistance to access their funds… We demand you reinstate the federal employees who worked within the Administration of Children and Families and not remove any others. Women and families deserve your urgent and immediate action. We look forward to seeing you fix this dangerous situation for children and families.”

The full letter can be accessed here:

In addition to letter leads Teresa Leger Fernández, Emilia Strong Sykes, Hillary J. Scholten, Deborah K. Ross, and Sydney Kamlager-Dove, the letter was signed by Nikema Williams, LaMonica McIver, Delia C. Ramirez, Eleanor Holmes Norton, Mary Gay Scanlon, Yassamin Ansari, Suzanne Bonamici, Nanette Diaz Barragán, Andrea Salinas, Sara Jacobs, Shontel M. Brown, Julia Brownley, Becca Balint, Jill Tokuda, Lori Trahan, Linda T. Sánchez, Judy Chu, Brittany Pettersen, Jan Schakowsky, Yvette D. Clarke, Jennifer L. McClellan, April McClain Delaney, Gwen S. Moore, Sarah Elfreth, Mikie Sherrill, Chrissy Houlahan, Norma J. Torres, Ilhan Omar, Joyce Beatty, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Betty McCollum, Diana DeGette, Bonnie Watson Coleman, Jasmine Crockett, Chellie Pingree, Sarah McBride, Melanie Stansbury, Pramila Jayapal, and Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.