For every one child in kinship foster care, there are 19 children in kinship care outside of the formal child welfare system. These families are often referred to as “informal” kinship families because of their outside-of-the-system status and, historically, they have not gotten the same financial or social supports that families in the child welfare system have.

Chapin Hall partnered with Kinnect, an Ohio-based nonprofit, to develop OhioKAN—a responsive kinship and adoption navigator program that supports children, youth, and their families. This resource outlines the development of OhioKAN, from the state’s request for proposals issued in response to the Family First Prevention Services Act (FFPSA) to the program’s implementation and the success stories of the families it serves.

This op-ed written by Acting Assistant Secretary Andrew Gradison outlines that current welfare policies focused on unconditional cash transfers are failing to lift low-income families out of poverty. Instead, he advocates for a welfare model that emphasizes work incentives, family stability, personal responsibility, and reduced dependency on government aid.

The pilot is authorized under the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 and reflects the Administration’s commitment to reshaping welfare programs to encourage employment, personal responsibility, and strong, stable two-parent families. States were encouraged to propose alternative performance measures to the work participation rate that prioritize rapid employment outcomes, earnings progression, and reduced dependency on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits, and other welfare. 

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services selected Arizona, Iowa, Nebraska, Ohio, and Virginia to participate in the redesigned TANF pilot. These states were chosen from a strong applicant pool to develop models and metrics other states can replicate to help families achieve self-sufficiency. In addition to concretely tracking employment and earnings, pilot states will pursue the following strategies to reduce dependency:

• Arizona will engage directly with employers that have vacancies for in-demand, well-paying positions to directly connect TANF participants with quality, sustainable employment.
• Iowa will improve referral coordination across services, enhance the quality of information available to TANF participants through financial literacy and decision-making tools, and build partnerships with employers to create employment and matched savings opportunities.
• Nebraska, in partnership with community organizations, colleges, and businesses, will develop personalized pathways for TANF participants to strengthen connections to local jobs. Pathways will include referrals to Nebraska’s TANF-funded Fatherhood and Healthy Marriage Initiative.
• Ohio will implement a personalized “well-being assessment” for TANF participants, which will include intensive case management services, financial literacy training, and support for counties to build community capacity.
• Virginia will establish Personalized Results Plans for TANF participants to build upon the success of the Career Pathway Pilot, which blends sector-based training, intensive case management, and employment engagement to support participants as they gain credentials in fields like health care and skilled trades.

The TANF pilot program officially launches on October 1, 2025.

The Program Monitoring Guide is used to provide a consistent framework for conducting on-site, programmatic monitoring of local areas throughout Ohio. The guide ensures that the Office of Fiscal and Monitoring Services, Bureau of Monitoring and Consulting Services’ oversight and monitoring practices reinforce federal law and regulations as well as Ohio’s guidance and policies as they pertain to administrating workforce development at the local level.

In FY2022, states spent more than 44 percent of federal TANF and state funds on non-assistance services, including work, education, and training activities; childcare; and child welfare services. Questions have arisen about how states use and account for TANF funds, and as a result the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) was asked to review TANF non-assistance spending. This GAO report, part of a series of reports reviewing TANF, examines how the seven selected states have used TANF non-assistance funds, non-assistance data collected and used by selected states, and any data challenges faced by selected states and the extent to which the Department of Health and Human Services provides support to address these challenges.

Family Resource Centers (FRCs) are community-based resource hubs where families can access support to promote child safety and child and family well-being. As conveniently located community or school-based hubs, FRCs bundle and co-locate many services, such as home visiting, parenting education, health screenings, childcare resources and referrals, playgroups, family counseling, government benefits screening, healthy eating and living activities, and food pantries. This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network resource highlights takeaways from learning collaboratives in three states that explored increased collaboration between kinship navigators and FRCs.

This Institute for Family Studies report shows how closely the fortunes of Ohio families are tied to the educational success, poverty, and emotional well-being of children across the state, how strong families are tied to safer streets, how closely connected economic mobility for poor children is to the state of the unions in their communities across the state, and how falling fertility imperils the demographic future of the state. Given the importance of the family for children, adults, and the state, this report also identifies a series of public policies and civic measures the legislature, businesses, churches, and families can advance to renew the foundations of marriage and family across Ohio.

Based on input from state TANF programs during the 2023 National TANF Directors’ Meeting, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) developed five virtual Learning Collaboratives (LCs) on topics best addressed through a cohort-based, peer learning format. These LCs were designed to be a progressive series of interactive meetings that facilitated reflection, peer sharing, connection with experts, and human-centered design and planning activities to deeply explore facets of the collaborative topic. Sessions were held monthly from March to August 2024 for 60-90 minutes.

The Overcoming Barriers to TANF Participation LC gathered TANF program leaders motivated by the many families facing barriers to accessing TANF or needed financial support despite their eligibility. The LC provided the opportunity for states to connect with each other while learning new strategies that may increase TANF participation for greater family well-being. It was designed to encourage participants to take steps to identify a priority barrier to participation in their TANF program. Participating states and territories included New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Virgin Islands, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, Minnesota, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Wyoming.

This OFA resource highlights the Strengthening Overcoming Barriers to TANF Participation LC, including key takeaways and resources from each session as well as overall themes and future considerations for follow-up.

Supporting families and individuals means understanding that their needs are complex, interrelated, and affected by the opportunities available in their communities. Integrated service approaches to prevent homelessness or involvement in systems like child welfare may be best positioned to succeed when they recognize these holistic needs and identities and when they coordinate access to resources and services. This Mathematica brief highlights the efforts made by programs to coordinate services and supports for participants by focusing on their holistic needs, including how programs identified their participants’ strengths and needs and how the sites integrated services to be responsive to those needs. The findings are based on interviews with staff and partners from nine case studies sites across the country and with people who have been served by these programs.