From FY16 to FY25, Fewer Head Start Families Received Comprehensive Services and the Percentage of Families Receiving Services Also Declined for Many Categories

This brief examines how Head Start’s comprehensive service delivery changed between the 2015-2016 (FY16) and 2024-2025 (FY25) program years, focused on volume (total number) and rate (percent) of children and families who received comprehensive services. Key findings include:

• The Head Start Act requires programs to provide a range of comprehensive services that statute notes are intended to enable parents to fulfill their roles as parents, become full partners in the education of their children, and move toward self-sufficiency. 
• Comprehensive services can include connecting families to health and developmental services, providing family support and case management, engaging parents in their children’s education, and connecting families to services to support their economic mobility.
• Head Start served fewer children in FY25 (771,121) than FY16 (1,067,965), a 28 percent decrease in actual number of children and pregnant women served.
• Across many comprehensive services, fewer funded Head Start slots over time has resulted in comprehensive services provided to fewer families (i.e., lower counts of families receiving services).
  • Both the number of children (volume) and the percent (rate) of all children who were up-to-date on their well-child visit schedule and immunizations decreased from FY16 to FY25.
  • The total number of children with disabilities served decreased by 14,775 (11 percent), with more younger children and fewer older children received disability services from FY16 to FY25.
  • The total number of newly enrolled children who received required screenings within 45 days decreased by 38 percent (237,654 children) from FY16 to FY25, outpacing the decrease in total number of newly enrolled children (33 percent).
  • The total number of pregnant women enrolled in Early Head Start declined by 11 percent between FY16 and FY25, though the overall rate of pregnant women enrolled in Early Head Start who received prenatal health care remained around 90 percent over time.
  • Within-year change for most health services is small. Many health service usage rates are high at enrollment and increase marginally by the end of the program year.
• Since FY16, the number of enrollees receiving at least one family service fell by 89,228 families (13.2 percent). The volume and rates increased for some family services (e.g., substance use prevention, emergency/crisis intervention) and decreased for some (e.g., parenting education, health education).
• Of all the services examined in this brief, 67 percent diminished in volume over time while rates decreased across about 46 percent of the services.
• Since FY16, the cost of Head Start slots increased faster than inflation, fewer slots are funded, the number of services provided to families has decreased overall, the percent of families receiving services has also decreased for many services, and staff turnover has increased.

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