Mr. Wade F. HORN Ph. D

Wade F. Horn, Ph.D. was sworn in as the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families in the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, on July 30, 2001. The Administration for Children and Families is responsible for programs that promote the social and economic well-being of families. ACF’s programs include Temporary Assistance to Needy Families, foster care, adoption assistance, family preservation and support, Head Start, child care, child support enforcement, runaway and homeless youth, low income home energy assistance, community services, refugee resettlement, mental retardation and developmental disabilities, and community services.

Prior to this appointment, Dr. Horn was President of the National Fatherhood Initiative, whose mission is to improve the well-being of children by increasing the number of children growing up with involved, committed and responsible fathers in their lives.

From 1989-1993, Dr. Horn was the Commissioner for Children, Youth and Families and Chief of the Children’s Bureau in the Administration on Children, Youth and Families. He also served as a Presidential appointee to the National Commission on Children from 1990-1993, was a member of the National Commission on Childhood Disability from 1994-1995, and the U.S. Advisory Board on Welfare Indicators from 1996-1997. Prior to these appointments, Dr. Horn was the Director of Outpatient Psychological Services at the Children’s Hospital National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., and an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at George Washington University. From 1993 to 2001, Dr. Horn was also an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University’s Public Policy Institute, and an affiliate scholar with the Hudson Institute.

Dr. Horn is the author of numerous articles on children and family issues, including a weekly newspaper column entitled Fatherly Advice, and is the co-author of several books including The Better Homes and Gardens New Father Book (Meredith Books, 1998) and The Better Homes and Gardens New Teen Book (Meredith Books, 1999.) He is also the lead editor of The Fatherhood Movement: A Call to Action (Lexington Books, 1998.)

Dr. Horn is frequently featured on television and radio as a child development expert and commentator. He has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, Good Morning America, CBS This Morning, McNeil-Lehrer News Hour, 20/20, 48 Hours, ABC World News Tonight, CNN, NBC Nightly News, CNBC, Fox News Channel, CNN and MS-NBC.

Dr. Horn received his Ph.D. in clinical child psychology from Southern Illinois University in 1981. He lives in Gaithersburg, Maryland, with his wife and two daughters.