This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network tipsheet highlights how partnerships between child welfare agencies, aging agencies, and community organizations can strengthen support for grandparents and relatives raising children. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs working with kinship caregivers, this tipsheet helps practitioners identify opportunities to coordinate services so that families will not have to navigate multiple systems on their own. The resource also offers practical ideas for outreach and collaboration that can help TANF agencies better engage kinship families, reduce service gaps, and connect caregivers to support that improve stability for both children and the adults caring for them.

Financial instability among older adults is becoming an increasingly important issue for many families served by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), particularly in multigenerational and kinship households. The Institute for Research on Poverty will host a webinar on May 20, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. ET to examine challenges such as poverty, food insecurity, and housing instability among older adults while also discussing policy strategies that can improve their economic security. For TANF practitioners, the webinar will provide helpful context for understanding how financial hardship affects entire family systems, including grandparents and older caregivers raising children. This webinar can also support conversations around cross-system collaboration, benefit access, and service planning for households that may be balancing caregiving responsibilities with economic strain.

For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, access to reliable data is essential: not just for eligibility verification through systems like the Income and Eligibility Verification System (IEVS), but for understanding how families interact with multiple government assistance programs over time. This on-demand webinar recording from the National Center for Education Statistics explores how State-Level Data Systems (SLDS) support that broader view by integrating data across partners.

The value for TANF practitioners is how this resource connects the dots between systems. For example, IEVS provides critical verification data, but SLDS creates the structure that allows agencies to manage, share, and use that data alongside other sources. This webinar highlights how governance, data-sharing agreements, and coordinated practices make that integration possible. TANF staff can use these insights to improve how their programs collaborate with partner agencies, strengthen data quality, and make more informed decisions. It supports more coordinated service delivery and a clearer understanding of outcomes for the families TANF serves.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs rely on accurate, shared data to verify eligibility and coordinate services, but building those data-sharing relationships can be difficult. This on-demand webinar recording from the National Center for Education Statistics focuses on how to engage partners within State-Level Data Systems (SLDS)—the broader platforms that house and manage data across agencies, including systems like the Income and Eligibility Verification System (IEVS).

This recording helps practitioners navigate the human side of that infrastructure, including how to build trust, align priorities, and encourage participation from agencies and providers who may be hesitant to share data. It offers practical ways to strengthen collaboration so TANF programs can more effectively verify information, reduce duplication, and connect families to a broader set of supports.

Families caring for relatives’ children often rely on multiple supports, including nutrition assistance. The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network will host a webinar on May 19, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. to explain how the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program fits into that broader system and how kinship families can access it. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners, this webinar will clarify how to coordinate benefits and reduce gaps in support for grandfamilies. It is particularly valuable for helping staff guide families through multiple programs without duplication or confusion, improving overall service delivery.