This Congressional Research Service report explains the differences in work requirements, work incentives, and time limits between TANF, SNAP, and housing assistance. Federal law requires most able-bodied adults receiving SNAP to participate in work activities, and has a time limit of 3 months for every 36-month period for able-bodied adults without dependents who do not work at least 20 hours a week. SNAP also has a work incentive for employed participants to deduct some of their earned income, which results in slightly higher benefits. One key difference between SNAP and TANF is that SNAP work requirements apply to individuals, while in TANF, states have the discretion to determine whether work requirements apply to individuals or families.

This USDA/FNS report details the results of a study that allowed six state SNAP agencies to receive waivers to implement Community Partner Interviewer demonstration projects between 2009 and 2010. The waivers allowed nonprofit organizations, such as food banks, to conduct SNAP interviews, collect verifications, and submit clients’ application materials to state SNAP agencies for eligibility determination. Overall, SNAP office directors and workers involved in the study cited improved access, better customer service, and satisfaction among applicants as the most significant successes of the demonstration projects. Challenges cited by SNAP representatives and community-based organization (CBO) workers included technology-related processing delays, keeping outreach workers up to date on frequent policy and procedural changes, and ensuring adequate training for all CBO workers who conducted SNAP interviews.

The Center for Law and Social Policy describes the challenges that workers with volatile schedules face in accessing public benefits, such as SNAP, TANF, Medicaid, and child care assistance. Many low wage workers now have volatile schedules, meaning they receive one week or less advance notice of their upcoming work schedule. These workers also experience fluctuations in the number of hours worked each week. Workers with volatile schedules often need public benefits to supplement their income, but such schedules can make it difficult to access these benefits. After analyzing how volatile schedules impact access to benefits, this brief provides best practices for policymakers to consider to help workers access SNAP, TANF, and other public assistance support. For example, states can request a waiver to allow workers to average their hours across the month, which can reduce the need for clients to participate in employment and training programs for working less than 30 hours a week.

Under Federal law, able-bodied adults without dependents (ABAWDs) may only receive SNAP benefits for 3 months in a three-year period unless they meet work or training requirements. Until recently, almost every State had chosen to use a temporary waiver of the three-month time limit because of high unemployment or lack of sufficient jobs. However, many of these waivers expired at the end of 2015 due to an improving economy and ABAWDs in most States are now subject to the time limit. This brief from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service highlights the potential—and limits— of the SNAP Employment & Training (E&T) in responding to the needs of ABAWDs. The most promising role for SNAP E&T may be to offer job-driven education and training services that can open a path for ABAWDs to transition from the program the right way: by becoming self-sufficient through better paying jobs.

There is an urgent need for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants to secure the education and training required to transition to economic self-sufficiency. The majority of jobs in the future will require at least some education beyond high school, yet many SNAP participants have not reached this level of educational attainment. Without the skills to meet rapidly changing labor market demand, the chances of these SNAP participants getting a good job and reducing their need for SNAP are extremely low. The SNAP Employment & Training (SNAP E&T) program, a skills and job training program for SNAP participants administered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Food and Nutrition Service (FNS), is a key resource that States and their partners can use to help SNAP participants gain skills for higher paying jobs. This USDA Policy Brief presents evidence for the usefulness of SNAP E&T and why States should seriously consider building their own SNAP E&T programs.

The resources and services available through the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program are critical to ending family homelessness. State and local TANF programs can provide access to critical work opportunities and support services for families experiencing homelessness. This resource from the Heartland Alliance provides an overview of TANF, examples of where state and local TANF programs have been leveraged to support homeless families, and recommendations to ensure that TANF resources are leveraged effectively to support homeless families.

The federal child support program collects billions of dollars per year in child support payments and serves more than 16 million children and families. However, about 35 percent of child support obligations go unpaid each month and most child support debt is held by people with very little or no reported income. Although many child support agencies offer services to help parents find a job or lower their payments, not all parents are aware of these services and do not enroll or apply for them. Behavioral science research indicates that providing information in simpler forms, rather than dense legal packets, can improve understanding of agency processes and services and better encourage customers to take full advantage of available services. The Administration for Children and Families has been conducting projects to explore the potential of behaviorally informed interventions to improve child support outcomes. This report from MDRC provides information on these projects. Early indications are that behaviorally informed communications in Texas and Washington led to an increase in order modification requests from noncustodial parents who were incarcerated, and a change in how reminder notices were sent to noncustodial parents in two Ohio counties led to an increase in the number of child support payments.

This report from the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation provides a nationally representative estimate of all home-based care to children ages birth through five years and not yet in kindergarten as of 2012, using data from the National Survey of Early Care and Education. The report describes the characteristics of the providers and the care they provide.

In this study, published by the Alliance for Strong Families and Communities, caseworkers provided information regarding a mother’s number and quality of social supports and whether an infant was removed from her care. Analyses indicated that infants were less likely to be removed from the mother’s care when caseworkers viewed maternal social supports as positive. This association was strongest when the caseworker identified only positive supports, with no contacts defined as non-positive. Mothers who were assessed to have no intimate relationship or a low level of commitment were nearly twice as likely to have their children in foster care compared to mothers assessed to be in a mid-to-high level of committed relationship. Results suggest that caseworkers’ distinctions between positive and non-positive social networks influence removal decisions. (author abstract)

This publication, designed for public and private direct service child welfare workers and community and faith based organizations, outlines a 12-hour curriculum which provides a model of practice for collaborating with kinship caregivers. The purposes of the training program are to: help achieve the outcomes of child safety, well-being, and permanency that are identified in the 1997 Adoption and Safe Families Act (ASFA); and provide meaningful support to kinship families, including use of the resources in the 2008 Fostering Connections to Success and Increasing Adoptions Act. This curriculum was designed by the Child Welfare League of America (CWLA) as an integral part of CWLA’s Kinship Care Traditions of Caring and Collaborating Model of Practice.