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.

This webpage highlights the announcement of the new vision, mission, values, priorities, and guiding principles for the Administration of Children and Families. The webpage outlines the values and offers resources that highlight exemplary practices for each.

During their work in multiple states, the Foster Insights team at the University of Chicago has observed notable trends in kin placement rates and the stability of kin placements. The Grandfamilies and Kinship Support Network will host a webinar on September 29, 2025 at 2:00 p.m. ET to share these observed trends and discuss their implications for stakeholders across the child welfare space. There will be a discussion on what can be learned about kinship families using placement data, and how these data-driven insights can help further the case for a kinship-first culture.

Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) programs support families by offering a range of services for youth, couples, and adults to increase their knowledge of healthy relationships and strengthen skills such as communication and coparenting. More than 40 HMRE programs in the current Administration for Children and Families (ACF) grant cycle chose to conduct local evaluations, and although each evaluation is designed for a specific local program, the collective learning opportunity is much greater when programs use a common framework and consistent evaluation standards and approaches.

The Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation released this toolkit to help HMRE programs and their evaluators adopt a common approach to designing and conducting evaluations to strengthen learning and support improved outcomes. This practical resource elevates local evaluations across the HMRE portfolio and supports a unified body of evidence to inform future program design and support improved outcomes. The toolkit supports alignment, enabling ACF, program leaders, evaluators, and other interested parties to better synthesize findings across cohorts and funding cycles and make meaningful progress on helping families in a variety of circumstances.

Families that receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash assistance are often in a state of crisis. They face immediate material needs, and these unmet basic needs put families at an increased risk for investigations in the child welfare system. Addressing unmet material needs among TANF participants, through providing concrete supports, can help prevent child maltreatment and ultimately keep children in their homes.

This tipsheet is intended for state, county, and Tribal TANF leaders who make program-level decisions about the types of resources and services that their programs offer to TANF participants.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA) includes several key changes to TANF, including a reset of the base year for the caseload reduction credit (CRC) component of the work participation rate (WPR) calculation. Additionally, the law requires HHS to exclude from the WPR calculations certain cases that receive benefits of less than $35 per month. Both changes go into effect October 1, 2025.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted a virtual information-sharing session with federal program staff on August 6, 2025. They provided a presentation on Sections 301 and 303 of the FRA and the impact each may have on TANF programs. State TANF program officials were encouraged to participate in this forum to receive guidance on meeting the requirements of Sections 301 and 303.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has published these four Notices of Funding Opportunity (NOFOs) to support fathers, strengthen families, and empower youth across the nation.

• Family, Opportunity, Resilience, Grit, Engagement – Fatherhood (FORGE Fatherhood): ACF announced its plan to solicit applications for the competitive award of grants that support "activities to promote responsible fatherhood" under each of the three broad categories of promoting or sustaining marriage, responsible parenting, and economic stability activities authorized under Section 403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act. This funding will be targeted exclusively at projects designed for adult fathers, defined as fathers that are age 18 and older. Eligible fathers (or father figures) must have children who are age 24 or younger. Fathers will include those in the general population (or "community fathers"), as well as fathers who are returning, or have returned, to their families and communities, following incarceration. 

   

• Helping Every Area of Relationships Thrive - Adults (HEART): ACF announced its plan to solicit applications for the competitive award of grants that support "healthy marriage promotion" activities as authorized under Section 403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act. This funding will be targeted exclusively to projects designed for adult individuals or adult couples, defined as persons who are age 18 and older. Applicants will be asked to submit proposals that are designed to implement programs that include a broad array of service provision strategies. These include curriculum-based skills development and services designed to support family strengthening activities through one or more of seven activities specified under the authorizing legislation: marriage and relationship education/skills (MRES); pre-marital education; marriage enhancement; divorce reduction activities; marriage mentoring; public advertising campaigns; and activities to reduce the disincentives to marriage. 

   

• Relationships, Education, Advancement, and Development for Youth for Life (READY4Life): ACF announced its plan to solicit applications for the competitive award of grants that support healthy marriage and relationship education activities including parenting, and job and career advancement activities as authorized under Section 403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act. The Relationships, Education, Advancement, and Development for Youth for Life (READY4Life) grants will be targeted exclusively to projects designed to provide healthy marriage and relationship education skills, parenting (for young fathers and mothers as applicable), financial management, job and career advancement, and other activities, to youth that are high-school aged (grades 9-12) or in late adolescence and early adulthood (ages 14 to 24), including parenting and/or pregnant youth. Grants awarded will support family formation and healthy marriage promotion activities under the authorizing legislation, through marriage and relationship education/skills (MRES). Applicants must provide evidence of organizational capacity to implement their proposed project for the specified community.

   

• Grants for Coordination of Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Child Welfare Services to Tribal Families at Risk of Child Abuse or Neglect: ACF announced the availability of funds under the Grants for Coordination of Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Child Welfare Services to Tribal Families at Risk of Child Abuse or Neglect. The purpose of this program, as prescribed by the statute (section 403(a)(2) of the Social Security Act, as amended), is "to fund demonstration projects designed to test the effectiveness of tribal governments or tribal consortia in coordinating the provision to tribal families at risk of child abuse and neglect of child welfare services and services under tribal programs funded under this part." 42 U.S.C. 603(a)(2)(B)(i). The award must be utilized for one or more purposes that are specifically outlined by statutorily-prescribed uses: (1) To improve case management for families eligible for assistance from a Tribal TANF program; (2) For supportive services and assistance to tribal children in out-of-home placements and the tribal families caring for such children, including families who adopt such children; (3) For prevention services and assistance to tribal families at risk of child abuse and neglect. In recent cohorts, recipients have engaged in activities such as revising intake and assessment procedures, developing informed consent documents that will allow staff to share information across program lines, providing cross-training for TANF and child welfare staff, developing joint case management procedures, and developing information technology systems to enhance coordination. Successful awardees will be required to articulate the methodology employed, as well as the anticipated deliverables and impacts. As this constitutes a pilot award, recipients are expected to disseminate key insights to the wider Tribal TANF and child welfare community.

   

All applications must be submitted electronically by Tuesday, July 29, 2025, at 11:59 p.m. ET. 

The “Success Sequence” is a proven formula to help young adults succeed in America. The three steps are

1. get at least a high school degree; then
2. get a full-time job; and lastly,
3. get married before having children.

Research shows that 97% of young people who follow all three steps are not poor as adults. This Institute for Family Studies webpage explores the three steps of the “Success Sequence” and explains how it alleviates poverty among young adults.