ACF
Abbreviation with 2 meanings
| Stands for | Administration for Children and Families |
|---|---|
| Meanings | 2 |
| Categories | Government & Politics, Units & Measurements |
ACF has two meanings. It stands for Administration for Children and Families (US federal agency) or Autocorrelation function (statistics).
Meanings of ACF at a glance
| # | ACF stands for | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Administration for Children and Families | Government & Politics › US Federal Agency |
| 2 | Autocorrelation function | Units & Measurements › Statistics |
1. Administration for Children and Families
Government & Politics · US Federal Agency Abbreviations
Funds and oversees programs for low-income families and children, including TANF, Head Start, the Child Care and Development Fund, child support enforcement, foster care and adoption. The HHS division is led by the Assistant Secretary for Children and Families.
Example: The state's foster care plan must be approved by ACF before federal matching funds flow.
Created in 1991 by merging the Family Support Administration and the Office of Human Development Services. Its Office of Refugee Resettlement also cares for unaccompanied migrant children after they leave immigration custody. Most ACF programs are run day to day by state and tribal agencies using federal funds.
2. Autocorrelation function
Units & Measurements · Statistics Abbreviations
The correlation of a time series with lagged copies of itself, plotted against the lag. It reveals seasonality, trends and how long effects persist, and helps choose ARIMA model orders.
Example: The ACF shows spikes at lags 12 and 24, confirming annual seasonality in the monthly data.
The partial autocorrelation function (PACF) removes the influence of shorter lags. A well-fitting model leaves residuals whose ACF shows no significant spikes, which the Ljung-Box test checks formally.
Related abbreviations
More US federal agency abbreviations
- AOC – Architect of the Capitol
- APHIS – Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service
- ATF – Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives
- BARDA – Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority
- BEA – Bureau of Economic Analysis
- BEP – Bureau of Engraving and Printing
- BIA – Bureau of Indian Affairs
- BIS – Bureau of Industry and Security
See all 152 US federal agency abbreviations →