Some Head Start early childhood programs were told by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to remove nearly 200 words and phrases from funding applications or risk denial, according to court documents filed in an ongoing lawsuit.
The list includes terms such as “accessible,” “belong,” “Black,” “disability,” “female,” “minority,” “trauma,” “tribal” and “women,” among many others. The documents were submitted Dec. 5 as part of a lawsuit brought by Head Start programs in several states — including Pennsylvania, Washington, Wisconsin and Illinois — against HHS and its secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
The lawsuit contends that the administration’s ban on diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives in federal programs conflicts with the Head Start Act, which requires services that are “linguistically and culturally appropriate” and mandates early intervention services for children with disabilities.
HHS declined to comment on the list, with HHS Press Secretary Emily G. Hilliard saying, “HHS does not comment on ongoing litigation.”
Nationally, Head Start serves about 750,000 infants, toddlers and preschool-age children, providing child care, early learning, meals, health screenings and family support.
The documents include a declaration from the executive director of a Wisconsin Head Start program, identified under the pseudonym Mary Roe. She said she submitted a routine funding renewal on Sept. 30 and then received two emails from HHS on Nov. 19. One said her grant application was being returned and asked her to “please remove the following words from your application,” listing 19 words including “Racism,” “Race” and “Racial.”
Roe said she then received a second email from her assigned HHS program specialist containing a document titled “Words to limit or avoid in government documents,” with nearly 200 words and phrases. Both emails are included in the court filing, though the specialist’s name was redacted. It is unclear how many other Head Start programs have received similar guidance.
Roe said the instruction put her in an “impossible situation” because many of the words on the list are embedded in the Head Start Act and in standard practices required to serve children effectively. She noted a contradiction between being told to avoid words such as “disability,” “disabilities” and “inclusion” and Head Start’s statutory responsibility to create inclusive and accessible classrooms for children with disabilities.
Disability-rights advocates condemned the guidance. Jacqueline Rodriguez of the National Center for Learning Disabilities said, “Banning the word ‘disability’ from Head Start is morally repugnant and a violation of federal law. No administration can claim to support children with disabilities while banning the very word that protects them.”
Court documents also show a Head Start program on a Native American reservation was told to remove sections of its application necessary to prioritize services for tribal members and descendants — an action that appears to conflict with federal law that allows prioritizing tribal members. The word “tribal” appears on the HHS list.
The administration has framed restrictions on DEI as enforcing merit-based policies. A January executive action said that illegal DEI policies “violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws” and undermine national unity by promoting identity-based systems.
In March, the Office of Head Start emailed grant recipients saying it would not approve funding requests for activities “that promote or take part in diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.”
The full declaration filed in the lawsuit is public; the list of words “to limit or avoid” begins on page 31 of that filing.