This National Indigenous Women’s Resource Center recording on Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives (MMIWR), domestic violence, and Native maternal health explores the intersection of safety, health, and family well-being in Tribal communities. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners working with Native families, the recording provides important context on how domestic violence and systemic barriers can affect family stability and access to services. It also highlights the importance of responsive approaches that recognize community strengths and lived experiences. TANF practitioners can use this resource to and begin exploring ways to strengthen partnerships and improve supportive services for Native families and Tribal communities.

GovLoop developed this webinar and companion product to examine how agencies can simplify and modernize forms and document processes to improve the customer experience. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, complicated paperwork and outdated systems can create barriers for both families and staff. Both resources outline practical ways agencies can reduce administrative burden, improve accessibility, and make it easier for clients to complete applications and submit information. TANF practitioners and program leaders can use these ideas to support more efficient service delivery, reduce delays, and create processes that are easier for families to navigate.

This MDRC report explores how two workforce programs in Los Angeles adapted employment services to better meet the needs of young people. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners serving youth and young parents, this resource offers insight into why flexible, individualized approaches matter. The resource highlights strategies such as personalized coaching, relationship-building, and responsive support services that help young people stay engaged and move toward employment goals. Programs looking to improve participation, reduce barriers, and better connect with younger clients may find useful ideas for strengthening their own service delivery models.

The Ohio Kinship and Adoption Navigator (OhioKAN) Program Manual offers a practical example of how coordinated family support services can be organized to better meet the needs of children and caregivers. Developed by Ohio’s Department of Children and Youth, the manual gives Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners a useful look at how programs can streamline referrals, improve communication across partners, and connect families to services more efficiently. For TANF agencies working to strengthen case management or build stronger community partnerships to support children and caregivers, this resource provides real-world guidance on creating systems that are easier for families to navigate and easier for staff to coordinate.

Work requirements are a central part of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), but the way they are defined and measured can be difficult to translate into everyday program decisions. This report breaks down how the federal work participation standard works in practice and how states meet it, helping TANF staff connect policy rules to real program operations.

A key detail is that child recipients are not considered work-eligible, meaning families where only children receive TANF assistance—or child-only cases—are excluded from work participation rate calculations. These cases can include situations where grandparents or other relatives are caring for children and receiving assistance on their behalf. Because of this distinction, programs are not evaluated on their engagement of these families in the same way as adult-recipient cases, which can significantly affect reported participation rates.

For TANF practitioners, this resource clarifies where compliance requirements apply and where they do not. It can help TANF programs design work activities that meet federal expectations while still reflecting the realities of the families being served. It can also support more informed program design decisions that balance accountability metrics with meaningful employment and family support strategies.

This Chapin Hall brief helps unpack how families actually move through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) over time, going beyond simple caseload counts to show how long families stay connected to support. One of the key insights is that child-only cases now make up about the same share of the caseload as adult recipient cases, shifting how programs need to think about engagement and service design. It also shows that child-only cases are 44% less likely to exit TANF at any point than adult-recipient cases, pointing to a group that may experience longer or more stable reliance on assistance.

For TANF practitioners, this brief highlights where systems may be working as intended—and where families may be getting “stuck” without clear pathways forward. Child-only cases often involve caregivers like relatives raising children without receiving benefits themselves, which can change how support needs to be structured. Practitioners can use these insights to rethink outreach, adjust case management strategies, and design supports that better match the different experiences within the caseload, rather than treating all cases the same.

This Urban Institute brief focuses on “child-only” cases—situations where children receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits without a parent in the assistance unit, often because they are living with relatives or other caregivers. These cases make up a significant share of TANF caseloads and are often treated the same as traditional households, despite having very different needs. The brief helps TANF practitioners better understand who these families are and where current supports may fall short. It points to gaps in services for both children and their caregivers and offers insight into how programs can more effectively identify and respond to these cases. For TANF staff, this means being better equipped to tailor services, strengthen caregiver support, and ensure children in nontraditional living arrangements are not overlooked.

WorkforceGPS will host a free webinar on May 28, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. ET focused on how agencies can improve coordination through integrated systems and cross-program collaboration. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners, this is especially relevant because families often interact with multiple systems at the same time, including workforce, childcare, child welfare, education, and housing programs. When these systems are not aligned, families may encounter duplicated paperwork, service gaps, or confusion about where to access support.

The webinar will explore how integrated approaches can better align workforce, education, and human services, including TANF programs, by moving from strategy into implementation. It will highlight how data sharing can improve coordination, strengthen efficiency, and support better outcomes, as well as how labor market analysis can inform joint planning and decision-making across systems. Drawing on state examples, the session will share implementation approaches, lessons learned, and real-world impacts, along with practical considerations for putting integration into practice and emerging priorities for strengthening coordinated service delivery.

This resource highlights a training opportunity designed to support Native women, Tribal communities, and Tribal leaders in addressing violence, safety, and broader community well-being, including the ongoing crisis of Missing and Murdered Indigenous People. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs serving Tribal communities, it emphasizes approaches grounded in cultural responsiveness, trauma-informed practice, and community leadership.

It also provides an opportunity for Tribal TANF practitioners to strengthen partnerships with organizations and better respond to the needs of Native families impacted by violence. In doing so, programs can improve how services are delivered in ways that build trust, reflect community priorities, and support safety. The resource further highlights leadership development and community engagement strategies that can help reinforce protective networks for families facing crisis or instability.