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Dear Financial Assistance Recipient,
As you may be aware, there has been a lapse in appropriated federal funds as of October 1, 2025. Because a funding lapse has occurred, please be advised that ACF staff, including staff in the Office of Child Care (OCC) and the Office of Grants Management (OGM), may not be available to provide normal oversight and administrative support services.
For all awards received prior to the lapse in funding, you may be able to continue drawing funds from prior awards during an appropriations lapse. HHS’s Payment Management System will remain operational to continue processing drawdown requests, so that payments can be made for your program. The robust internal controls that currently exist will continue to ensure the integrity of grant drawdown requests and payments. Please note, if you received your notice of grant award with restrictive terms and conditions, or if your drawdown request triggers one of the Payment Management System edit checks and/or the drawdown limit controls, you may not be able to drawdown funds.
We anticipate FY 2026 Child Care Entitlement (CCE) mandatory and matching funds will be awarded in mid-October to states, territories and Tribes. Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG) discretionary funds will not be awarded until after an FY 2026 appropriations law is passed.
If you are considering applying for additional HHS federal financial assistance funding, please be advised that the Grants.gov system will be operational and will be accepting applications. For those programs subject to the funding lapse, the Grants.gov system will accept and store applications until such time as the responsible awarding agency has the authority and funding to return to normal business operations.
Please check our website at www.acf.gov and www.hhs.gov for updates. During this lapse in appropriations, if you have an urgent CCDF question, you may email OCCinfo@acf.hhs.gov and responses will be provided if allowable under current guidance. Thank you for your assistance during this period of government shutdown and your ongoing support of the Administration for Children and Families.
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