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 to strengthen Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and child support services. TANF program leaders, frontline staff, and partners can use these resources to meaningfully engage families, improve service delivery, and ensure programs better reflect the needs and priorities of the communities they serve.

This I Am Dad podcast examines a practical question for fatherhood programs: what helps fathers participate consistently enough to benefit from services? The conversation explores the difference between incentives and supports, the barriers that can make participation difficult, and why programs should ask fathers directly what they need. Examples include transportation, food, gift cards, and other supports that can reduce the practical costs of participation.

For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners, the discussion offers a useful reminder that engagement is not simply about asking clients to attend. TANF programs may need to design services around participants’ schedules, transportation challenges, family responsibilities, and other realities that affect retention. These lessons can inform fatherhood initiatives within TANF as well as broader strategies for making services easier for families to access and complete.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) is investing $7.3 million in 10 states to strengthen the systems and services that help families address challenges before they lead to foster care entry. The Prevention Accelerator Grants will support activities such as improving referral pathways, training staff in Motivational Interviewing, strengthening data and claiming systems, and expanding evidence-based family supports.

For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners, this ACF announcement offers a useful look at how states are building stronger prevention systems around families. The announcement outlines the 10 jurisdictions’ plans to improve their services, including better referrals, shared data, and sustainable funding structures that can help families connect with the right support earlier. TANF programs can draw lessons from these approaches when considering partnerships with child welfare, community providers, and other family-serving programs.

The Director’s Corner provides a regularly updated collection of resources selected or highlighted by the Director of the Office of Family Assistance, David Swegle. Recent resources address timely Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) issues such as safeguarding benefits, TANF and work, caseload reduction credits, and child-only cases.

For TANF practitioners, this page is a quick entry point into current policy and practice discussions. Rather than searching across multiple sources for new OFA materials, TANF practitioners can use the page to identify research-to-practice briefs and other resources that may help inform policy decisions, program administration, and conversations about how TANF is serving families.

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 background on TANF funding, allowable uses, and how states may work with pregnancy centers and other community organizations.

For TANF practitioners, the resource can help clarify how TANF resources may be used to support families through community-based partnerships. It is particularly useful for understanding the policy considerations involved when TANF agencies work with organizations that provide family planning and pregnancy-related services, referrals, and other supports. The resource can help program staff and leaders better understand the options and boundaries for using TANF funds while considering how partnerships can connect families to a broader range of services.

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 activities focused on money management, goal setting, savings, credit, and planning for the future.

For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners, the toolkit offers practical activities that can complement employment and education services for young adults. Rather than treating financial capability as a separate topic, it helps TANF practitioners connect money skills to younger participants’ immediate goals and longer-term plans. The resource can support conversations about building financial stability as young people move toward employment, independence, and economic security.

The Title X Family Planning Services Grants opportunity provides federal funding for organizations that deliver family planning and related preventive health services, including education, counseling, and referrals. The program is designed to help individuals make informed decisions about their health and family planning while expanding access to essential community-based services. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, Title X offers an opportunity to strengthen referrals and partnerships for families who may benefit from health and family planning services alongside employment and economic supports. TANF agencies and community organizations can use this opportunity to connect families with comprehensive services that promote health, stability, and long-term well-being. Applications are due January 11, 2027, at 6:00 p.m. ET.

Young people leaving foster care often take on financial responsibilities earlier than their peers, while having fewer opportunities to learn about saving, banking, and building financial stability. This Annie E. Casey Foundation report examines the financial experiences of young people participating in the Opportunity Passport program, which combined financial guidance with savings accounts, stipends, and opportunities to receive savings matches. The report highlights both the challenges young people faced transitioning out of foster care and the supports that helped them begin building assets. 

For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners working with young adults, this resource offers a useful way to think about financial stability beyond monthly income. Young people may need support developing the skills, habits, and resources to manage money and build assets over time. The findings can inform conversations about financial coaching, savings opportunities, employment supports, and partnerships with organizations that help young adults strengthen their financial lives.

Transitioning from foster care into adulthood can be challenging for any young person, but Native youth may also be navigating questions of culture, community, identity, and connection. This resource from the National Tribal Child Welfare Center for Innovation and Advancement brings together guidance, research, tools, and programs that can help Tribal child welfare professionals support young people as they move toward adulthood. The resource emphasizes youth engagement, connectedness, well-being, and helping young people build futures that reflect their own goals and choices.

This resource focuses on culturally connected and youth-centered support and can help Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) staff and their partners think more broadly about how services can be coordinated around the goals and strengths of Native youth. By highlighting tools and approaches that can be adapted to individual and community needs, the resource provides ideas for building stronger supports as young people take on greater independence.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services added new peer support programs to the Title-IV Prevention Services Clearinghouse, for which all states can now claim federal reimbursement. The expansion advances the Trump Administration’s Great American Recovery and A Home for Every Child initiatives by equipping states with evidence-based resources to help parents overcome addiction, thereby strengthening families and reducing the number of children entering foster care. The services are designed to connect parents and caregivers with people who have lived experience navigating similar challenges, providing practical support, encouragement, and connections to community resources before families reach a crisis point. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners can use this resource to better understand how peer support can complement existing services, engage families in a more accessible and supportive way, and connect parents and caregivers to resources that can help promote family stability and well-being.