last year my Hens and Chicks plant got 2 new branches, but I am not sure what to do with them since they are growing sideways. Should I detach them from the main plant and let them grow separately, should I leave them like this, or should I elevate it from the ground somehow. I also see some small roots that they have around them.
They were probably squashed under the bottom leaves of the main plant before they started to dry up and die (which is perfectly normal, nothing to worry about).
You can leave them to do grow however they want, or cut them off and pot them up separately. If they have already started growing roots, once those hit the soil they will start growing as separate plants anyway, and the stalk back to the "parent" will die eventually.
If looks as if there is plenty of room for them in the pot in your picture, if you want to leave them as they are.
It looks like your mother plant is raised above the rest of the soil in the pot, If this is correct, then that would explain the position of the chicks - they're heading downhill. How you solve this depends on how you want the plants to look.
If you want a full pot of hen and all the chicks, then you need to keep them attached to the hen. If the soil is indeed higher for the hen, I'd raise the soil in the point until the chicks are level with the hen. If after that they're still downward-facing, I'd open up a large paperclip into a miniature ground staple and then gently staple the chicks into the proper position until they root.
Note that when the hen blooms, she dies, which is probably why the asexually propagate like they do.
If you want to propagate the chicks into their own plants, then you could try the ground staple trick for a time or just cut the chicks of from the hen and put them into their own small pots.
