Washington Should Trust Parents, Not Bureaucrats episode artwork

EPISODE · Sep 10, 2026 · 33 MIN

Washington Should Trust Parents, Not Bureaucrats

from Common Sense with Dr. Ben Carson

What happens when programs created to help children and families become buried under federal rules?Dr. Ben Carson sits down with Assistant Secretary Alex Adams, who leads the Administration for Children and Families at the Department of Health and Human Services, for a wide-ranging conversation about Head Start, foster care, parental authority, family stability, and the proper role of government.Adams explains why the administration is seeking to move away from prescriptive federal requirements and put parents and local communities back in the driver's seat. He discusses proposed Head Start reforms that he says would reduce regulatory burdens while expanding access, the nationwide Home for Every Child foster-care initiative, efforts to support young adults aging out of foster care, and what he calls the “orphan tax”— the use of foster children's Social Security survivor benefits by states to offset government costs.Dr. Carson and Assistant Secretary Adams also discuss marriage, fatherhood, work, the “success sequence,” bipartisan welfare reform, and why strong families remain foundational to a strong country.In this episode:Head Start and parental control; federal regulation versus outcomes; foster-home shortages; faith-based foster families; support for children aging out of care; Social Security survivor benefits; family stability, marriage and fatherhood; work and welfare reform; and why both men remain hopeful about America's future.Subscribe to Common Sense with Dr. Ben Carson for conversations about faith, liberty, community, life, and the ideas shaping America's future.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Episode metadata supplied by the publisher feed · Published Sep 10, 2026

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Washington Should Trust Parents, Not Bureaucrats

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