In Massachusetts, Head Start serves more than 10,000 children who come from poor households, experience homelessness or live in foster care. Early childhood advocates say the proposed changes would compromise the tailored support vulnerable children receive under the current standards. “The proposed rule doesn’t shift control [to states], it removes requirements," said Michelle Haimowitz, executive director of Massachusetts Head Start Association. In a media briefing Thursday, Yvette Sanchez Fuentes, of the national nonprofit Start Early, said flexibility has always been part of the Head Start model. "And part of what Head Start does is provide that kind of wraparound care for the entire family."