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
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…
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
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…
This Congressional Research Service report explains how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) interacts with pregnancy centers and the role these organizations can play in providing services to pregnant women and families. It provides…
Research from SmartAsset explores what it takes financially for one parent to stay home and the other to support the household. It adds context to the tradeoffs families face when making caregiving and work decisions. Within Temporary Assistance…
This Executive Order by the Trump-Vance administration announces that they will dedicate Federal support, technology, and strategic partnerships to provide young Americans in or transitioning out of the foster care system with the tools they need…
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 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…
This research from the Institute for Family Studies highlights differences in reported relationship satisfaction depending on how couples meet, suggesting that in-person connections may be associated with stronger long-term outcomes. It adds…
Families that receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance are often in a state of crisis. They face immediate material needs, and these unmet basic needs put families at an increased risk for investigations in the child…
This Institute for Family Studies resource examines how consistent, quality employment for men is connected to stronger family stability and engagement. The report highlights employment not only as an economic factor, but as something closely…