Incentive-based strategies can significantly enhance participation in fatherhood programs, particularly when they are tailored to meet the specific needs of the program’s target population. However, these strategies must be carefully designed to combine immediate rewards with strategies that balance the use of incentives with efforts to foster intrinsic motivation and personal autonomy. This National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse resource discusses the impact of fatherhood programs that integrate incentives into program activities and regular assessments of the incentive strategies.

In recent years, local, state, and federal child support offices started reexamining how their enforcement and collection roles can be paired with services that foster meaningful parental engagement and invest in the social and economic well-being of parents paying child support. In examining child support services, it is important to understand the reach they have throughout federal benefits. Across the continuum of human services programs, rules related to child support can impact whether someone qualifies for benefits, what amount they can receive, or the amount of child support they owe – including but not limited to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, Medicaid, childcare, and child welfare. Often, federal and state policies’ options regarding child support practices are made by individual programs in distinct silos from each other. This American Public Human Services Association resource discusses strategies that can help create the enabling conditions for continued progress in re-centering state and local child support collaborations with other human services program areas.

In September 2024, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) continued its investment in economic mobility with a gathering of state government officials from across ACF’s Region V. This gathering emphasized the role states can play in engaging families in the policy process, including working with philanthropy to ensure funding for creative solutions to problems confronting parents, and actively collaborating with state legislators to ensure the actionability of legislative solutions. This ACF resource provides a recap of the Region V summit, including an overview of each state’s innovative strategies to support expectant parents and the parents of young children. Strategies highlighted include the creation of a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) engagement unit in Illinois, expansion of Medicaid coverage for 12 months postpartum in Indiana, the launching of Family Connects in Ohio and Family Impacts Teams project in Michigan, standing up of the newly created Department of Children, Youth, and Families in Minnesota, and the creation of the Wisconsin Child Support Parent Advisory Group.

The Administration for Children and Families promotes the economic and social well-being of families, children, individuals, and communities by providing federal leadership, partnership, and resources for the delivery of a range of human services. Many state, local, and tribal human services programs have a similar mission to support the well-being of the populations they serve. Traditionally, earnings and employment outcomes have served as some of the primary indicators to assess the success of services and programs in advancing family well-being. However, increasingly there is recognition among policymakers, practitioners, researchers, and the broader field that well-being is a complex and multi-faceted concept. One’s well-being can encompass a range of non-economic outcome domains; be influenced by structural, household, social, and individual factors; and look different across cultures, communities, and contexts. To explore this complexity, this 2024 Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency plenary session features research on how well-being is conceptualized in three different human services settings that support individuals and families—Indigenous communities, welfare and self-sufficiency programs, and home visiting programs—and from the perspective of an individual with lived experience as a human services program participant and as a current practitioner in an early childhood education program.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance hosted the Regions IX and X State Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Technical Assistance Meeting from August 29 to August 30, 2024 in Portland, Oregon. This meeting was designed to amplify programs’ wisdom in the room by fostering peer-to-peer learning and collaborative planning that will help jurisdictions innovate solutions that improve outcomes for families.

This Grandfamilies and Kinship Support Network and National Indian Child Welfare Association fact sheet highlights the Port Gamble S’Klallam Tribe (PGST) Kinship Parenting Program. The PGST Kinship Parenting Program provides outreach and support to kin caregivers and their families in Kitsap County, Washington, including helping them identify and connect to services such as childcare, behavioral health, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), TANF non-needy (child-only) grants, assistance with Social Security Income and other paperwork, and much more. Other tribal nations and service providers can utilize the outlined practices as a guide as they develop or modify their own programming that best aligns with their community values, needs, and resources.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance hosted the Regions I-IV East Coast Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Directors Meeting from July 16 to July 18, 2024 in Charlotte, North Carolina. This meeting was designed to provide participants with an opportunity to engage and collaborate with peers about strengthening programs to better serve communities and support families to achieve better outcomes. Over the course of the meeting, participants engaged in peer-to-peer learning, group discussions, and networking among Federal and state colleagues.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance hosted the Regions V-VIII State Technical Assistance Meeting from July 9 to July 11, 2024 in Denver, Colorado. Themed “Reimagining Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Programs through the Lens of Program Participants,” this meeting was designed to inspire, support, and engage TANF program leaders and staff in evidence-driven change that improves programs and positively impacts the lives of the families they serve. Over the course of the meeting, participants engaged in peer-to-peer learning, group discussion and idea generation, and networking among Federal and state colleagues.

Improving alignment between human services and family needs and goals has been a key area of focus for many state and local human services programs. Family advisory councils offer a unique opportunity to facilitate meaningful engagement with families served by public programs; gain family input on policies and practices that affect them; and ultimately, to help develop programs and policies that serve families successfully and equitably. In a National Association for Welfare Research and Statistics (NAWRS) virtual workshop, panelists will discuss their experiences developing, launching, and sustaining family advisory councils in policy and research. This virtual workshop is being hosted by the Institute for Research on Poverty on August 20, 2024 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET.

Addressing childhood poverty poses a significant and multifaceted challenge, and is particularly pronounced in Puerto Rico, where high rates of poverty intertwine with systemic factors to contribute to elevated rates of underemployment and food insecurity. Two-generation (2Gen) approaches aim to address these complex challenges by recognizing the interconnectedness of family dynamics, neighborhood contexts, and child outcomes. This Urban Institute report is accompanied with an executive summary that assesses the effectiveness of Vimenti, an integrated service center and school for families in Puerto Rico that provides a variety of family services using a 2Gen approach.