LAKE COUNTY, Calif. — More than $10 billion in federal funding for social services programs serving children and families has been frozen this week in five Democratic-led states, including California.

Lake County’s Social Services Director Rachael Dillman Parsons on Thursday joined the County Welfare Directors Association of California, or CWDA — which represents the human services directors of all 58 California counties — in urging the immediate restoration of the funding.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, announced on Tuesday that it had frozen billions of federal child care and family assistance funds for California, Colorado, Illinois, Minnesota and New York, citing “fraud concerns.”

Across the five states, the freeze includes nearly $2.4 billion from the Child Care and Development Fund, $7.35 billion in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families — known in California as CalWORKs — and $869 million from the Social Services Block Grant, according to the HHS announcement.

HHS said it has identified funds being "improperly provided to individuals who are not eligible under federal law.” It also said that funds will remain frozen until the HHS “completes a review and determines that states are in compliance with federal requirements.” 

However, it did not provide any specifics or timeline in the announcement, nor did it address the impact on the millions of American families and children who could lose coverage. 

“If unresolved, we could see impacts as soon as February 2026,” Dillman Parsons said in a press release posted on the department’s Facebook page Thursday afternoon.

The county did not provide an immediate response to Lake County News’ request for details on how local recipients of the affected benefits may be impacted by the federal fund freeze. 

CWDA criticized the freeze in a Wednesday press release, calling it “baseless” and saying the federal government had provided “zero evidence” for its actions. 

The release said California is being subjected to “punitive paperwork and bureaucratic barriers” including requests for sensitive personal information that local providers such as child care centers are prohibited from collecting.

The association warned that the freeze will have immediate consequences for millions of families: parents may lose child care, struggle to stay in school or at work, and children could face hunger or homelessness.

“The consequences of this action will be immediate and dire for the millions of California families who rely on these programs to survive,” the CWDA said, noting that more than three quarters of all of California’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families recipients are children.“Children will suffer most.” 

The funding freeze is the latest in a series of federal actions affecting social welfare programs. 

A nationwide funding freeze in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, during the government shutdown in the fall was later reversed after multiple federal lawsuits, and cuts to homeless housing programs prompted a joint lawsuit by 20 states, including California.

The earlier SNAP freeze, which a quarter of Lake County residents rely on, worsened the local food crisis. The Board of Supervisors urgently allocated a total of $140,000 to support local food distribution for five weeks, and food banks reported “never-before-seen lengths” of food distribution lines. 

The CWDA said the HHS action “continues this administration’s attack on programs proven to lift children and families out of poverty.” 

“We call on HHS to immediately rescind this action and restore stability to these vital programs that help families meet their basic needs and create pathways out of poverty,” the association said.

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Written by: Lingzi Chen

Published: 09 January 2026