OFA Webinar: Examining TANF Child-Only Cases: Identifying Needs and Enhancing Support

Just over half of all TANF cases are child-only cases, where children receive TANF cash assistance, but the parents or caregivers do not. Typically, these cases are not subject to work requirements or the time limit, and these recipients are not assigned to a case manager and receive relatively little support. While supportive services for kinship caregivers are accessible to some non-parental caregivers, there is high variability in how these programs serve families from state to state. For child-only recipients in the immigrant or Supplemental Security Income categories, there are few TANF-related programs and services.

The Office of Family Assistance hosted a webinar on June 1, 2023, which provided an overview of the current caseload of TANF child-only cases including demographics, economic stability, and health and wellbeing. It will also discuss kinship navigator programs, recommendations for best practices in serving kinship TANF families, and unmet needs of recipients and ways in which they may be addressed. Speakers included Kristen Joyce, Mathematica; Liliana Chakrabarti, Children’s Bureau; Ana Beltran, Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network; Juan Gomez, Center for Law and Social Policy; and Ryan Tsukiji, California Department of Social Services. Webinar participants were able to ask questions to speakers during a facilitated Q&A section.