Rebuilding American Families
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program is designed to help families achieve stability and move toward long-term self-sufficiency. TANF purposes emphasize strengthening family formation, supporting healthy relationships, and promoting long-term economic security for parents and children.
This webpage provides resources to help state TANF agency staff translate these priorities into practice. The materials are organized around key areas of focus, including marriage and family formation supports, household stability skills, community and faith-based partnerships, family growth and economic planning, maternal and family wellness, youth preparation for family life, and emerging approaches. Each section highlights ways TANF programs can expand beyond basic assistance to offer tools that help practitioners engage families more broadly, address underlying barriers, and support stronger, more stable households. Together, these topics reflect a broader effort to not only meet immediate needs, but to equip families with the foundation for strong relationships and stable homes.
Marriage and Family Formation Supports
The National Fatherhood Initiative offers ready-to-use programs and tools that help fathers build stronger relationships with their children and take a more active role in family life. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs,…
This National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse publication serves as a resource for program operators seeking information on available curricula designed for working with fathers. While not a comprehensive list, it provides an overview of…
Household Stability Skills
For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, this Institute for Family Studies resource offers a relatable way to introduce communication and relationship skills without relying on technical language. It centers on a practical…
Using Active Listening to Build Stronger Two-Parent Households and Improve TANF Participant Outcomes
This is the first video in a three-part series that aims to help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs incorporate communication skill-building techniques from Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) programs that can…
This is the second video in a three-part series that aims to help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs incorporate communication skill-building techniques from Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) programs that…
This is the final video in a three-part series that aims to help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs incorporate communication skill-building techniques from Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) programs that can…
This resource by Study.com provides practical family conflict resolution activities that help people recognize what is driving disagreement, see situations from different perspectives, and work through problems in a more structured way. For…
Community and Faith-Based Partnerships
Families often need more than a single service to achieve lasting economic mobility. As a facilitation model for building long-term collaboration between communities, public systems, and nonprofit partners, the Blue Sky Possibilities Framework…
This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network tipsheet focuses on how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs can support children living with relatives or caregivers who are not receiving full family benefits. It fills a key…
This webpage offers a comprehensive approach to empowering parents and serves as an example of how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs can think more intentionally about family formation as part of their services. It shows how…
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops provides education and guidance on Natural Family Planning, a fertility awareness-based approach that helps individuals understand reproductive cycles to support either pregnancy planning or…
Families thrive when their communities are strong and connected. Yet too often, families face barriers to resources that support well-being, like lack of affordable childcare, safe housing, mental health supports, or job opportunities—barriers…
This report from the Sutherland Institute explores how religious involvement and faith communities can support family stability by fostering commitment, shared values, and social support networks. It reviews evidence suggesting that participation…
Family Growth and Economic Planning
The Opportunity Atlas maps economic mobility across communities, showing how outcomes differ depending on where children grow up. This tool shifts the focus from individual effort alone to the role of place in shaping opportunity. For Temporary…
The Urban Institute’s Affordability Tracker shows how affordability varies across regions and over time, highlighting pressure points in household budgets. It provides context for understanding why families may struggle even when working by…
The National Center for Children in Poverty’s Basic Needs Budget Calculator breaks down what it actually costs to meet essential needs like housing, food, childcare, and transportation. It highlights gaps between wages, benefits, and real…
The Family Resource Simulator shows how earnings, benefits, and expenses interact as circumstances change. It makes “what if” scenarios visible in a way that is difficult to capture through conversation alone. In Temporary Assistance for Needy…
The Urban Institute’s Marriage Calculator shows how marriage can change a household’s income, taxes, and benefit eligibility. It helps surface the often complex financial consequences of family structure decisions. For Temporary Assistance for…
The MIT Living Wage Calculator estimates the income families need to cover basic expenses based on where they live and family size. It helps clarify a common disconnect in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) work—employment alone does…
Maternal and Family Wellness Supports
This resource outlines financial assistance options that help reduce the cost of fertility medications and related care. The EMD Serono resource speaks to a need that is often overlooked in safety-net systems: access to reproductive health…
Youth Preparation for Family Life
This One Key Question® tool introduces a simple but structured way for individuals to reflect on whether they want to become parents and when. The resource creates space for intentional decision-making at moments when family planning…
This curriculum by Making a Difference focuses on helping young people build decision-making skills, understand consequences, and reduce behaviors that increase risk of unintended pregnancy. The resource addresses a key prevention gap by reaching…
This resource explains the foundations of sexual risk avoidance education and how it is designed to support youth in making intentional, long-term healthy choices. It helps clarify how prevention-based approaches fit into broader adolescent…
This report presents evidence and perspectives on how sexual risk avoidance approaches have proven to influence youth behavior and support healthier outcomes over time. It focuses on long-term patterns rather than short-term interventions. For…
This implementation guide outlines practical steps for designing, delivering, or partnering on sexual risk avoidance education programs. It emphasizes structure, consistency, and alignment with broader youth development goals. In Temporary…
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners often need a clear way to identify what a participant can already do independently and where support is still needed, especially when working with youth and young adults. This Casey…
Emerging Approaches
From the Wheatley Institute at BYU, this report examines how economic shifts, education gaps, and digital engagement patterns are influencing men’s participation in work, relationships, and family life. The resource connects broader structural…
Families are experts in their own experiences, and their perspectives can help improve programs. This Office for Planning, Research and Evaluation toolkit provides practical strategies, tools, and resources for gathering and using family feedback…
This Institute for Family Studies resource looks at how job stability for men and flexible work arrangements for mothers influence decisions around forming and sustaining families. It brings attention to how work conditions shape family life in…
This resource from the Institute for Family Studies explores how online dating is changing the way relationships begin and the potential implications for commitment and long-term family formation. It raises questions about how modern relationship…
Parents who face barriers to employment often need coordinated support to remain actively involved in their children's lives. This Office for Planning, Research and Evaluation report shares lessons learned from programs serving disadvantaged…
Oregon offers an example of how coordination between Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and child support programs can improve services for families. This resource explains how the two programs work together in practice, including…