HHS Secretary Faces Backlash Over Black Children Comments

Clear Facts

• Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. engaged in a heated exchange with Representative Terri Sewell during a budget hearing.
• Sewell questioned Kennedy about 2024 podcast comments on overmedication and a concept of reparenting children in rural wellness facilities.
• An HHS spokesperson said Kennedy’s remarks referred to therapeutic methods for people facing alienation and mental health despair.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced intense questioning from Representative Terri Sewell over previous comments regarding the medication of children.

Sewell cited a 2024 podcast interview where Kennedy discussed drug dependency and his vision for rural rehabilitation centers.

Kennedy contested the framing of his previous remarks and accused the congresswoman of misrepresenting his words.

An aide for Sewell displayed a poster board during the hearing to highlight the specific quotes in question.

“Mr. Secretary, you’ve already admitted that you are not a board-certified physician, and you’ve already admitted you did not go to medical school. Have you ever reparented or parented, I should say, a Black child?”

Kennedy denied using the phrase