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
In June 2026, the Office of Family Assistance launched the Programming to Build Strong Families and Promote Economic Independence series, designed to provide flexible, practice-informed…
In June 2026, the Office of Family Assistance launched a series to guide TANF programs in building strong families and promoting economic independence in Tribal communities. This series was designed to provide flexible, practice-informed…
Aspen Institute released this financial capability toolkit designed for opportunity youth, or young people ages 16–24 who are disconnected from school and work. The toolkit helps practitioners bring financial education into programs through…
In June 2026, the Office of Family Assistance launched the Programming to Build Strong Families and Promote Economic Independence series, designed to provide flexible, practice-informed…
Financial stability can play an important role in helping fathers support their children and strengthen their families. Financial Foundations is a free, virtual curriculum designed to help participants build practical skills related to budgeting…
Young people leaving foster care often face financial challenges as they transition to adulthood, including managing money, securing housing, and planning for future goals. This Annie E. Casey Foundation brief introduces their financial…
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…
Research shows that families living in poverty have a significantly higher likelihood of experiencing crises, and that poverty is the greatest threat to child well-being and the best predictor of abuse and neglect. Further, research suggests…
This Urban Institute report examines childcare needs and access for parents who work outside traditional business hours, focusing on Austin and Travis County, Texas. It explores the challenges families face in finding care that accommodates…
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…
Family Growth and Economic Planning
Young people aging out of foster care may face a stark reality. They leave the system at 18 with little financial cushion and few of the family safety nets on which most young adults rely. To address this, federal guidance has been issued by the…
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…
Maternal and Family Wellness Supports
Youth Preparation for Family Life
This brief summarizes a recent report about the PREP program, entitled “The Personal Responsibility Education Program: Launching a Nationwide Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention Effort.” The report documented key decisions made by state grantees about…
The Personal Responsibility Education Program (PREP) was authorized by Congress to reduce teen pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections, and associated risk behaviors. Grantees across the country had flexibility in how they would implement…
Emerging Approaches
This Heritage Foundation event examined how guaranteed income programs for new mothers may shape fathers’ involvement and recognition within families. Speakers discussed whether programs centered on mothers and children adequately account for…
States across the country are finding new ways to connect child support participants with employment opportunities. This federal webpage highlights child support-led employment programs operating across the country and the services they provide…
Child support payments can make a meaningful difference for families receiving public assistance. This National Conference of State Legislatures resource explains pass-through and disregard policies, which allow some or all child support payments…
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…
The Heritage Foundation will host a webinar on April 30, 2026 at 9:30 a.m. ET to explore how family stability connects to broader economic and social outcomes. This presentation will help Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs to…