How can human services programs make sure families have a meaningful role in shaping the services they receive? This Chapin Hall report explores that question through the Opportunities for Prevention & Transformation Initiative, or OPT-In for Families, which connects families with voluntary community supports and financial assistance. Researchers used zines—creative, participant-generated booklets—to learn how people with lived experience viewed the co-design process.

The findings offer a practical lesson for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs: engaging clients means more than asking for feedback. Participants emphasized the importance of trust, transparency, clear roles, and showing how their input actually influenced decisions. TANF practitioners can use the resource when designing advisory groups, client-feedback processes, or new services. It is a creative approach that also provides an example of how programs can offer participants different ways to share their experiences beyond traditional surveys and meetings.

Relatives often step in to raise children when parents cannot, but kinship families can face significant financial, caregiving, transportation, and service-access challenges. This guide from the Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network examines how Title VI Native American Aging Programs are supporting older relative caregivers and the children they raise. A national survey found that 84% of Title VI programs provide at least one service specifically for older kin caregivers.

For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners, the guide offers practical examples of how programs can work across systems to reach kinship families. Services such as information and referral, assistance accessing benefits, caregiver education, respite, counseling, and support groups can complement the economic assistance TANF agencies provide. The guide can also help practitioners identify potential partners, particularly when serving Native families and older caregivers who may not initially identify themselves as part of a "kinship" system.

Families who rely on Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards can lose essential resources when their information is stolen. This Aspen Institute announcement introduces their real-time transaction blocking pilot program, with the first cohort of states launching in 2026. The pilot is designed to launch real-time transaction blocking for a subset of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants, minimize disruption, and measure the technology’s impact, while Aspen Institute helps states determine whether and how the technology could be expanded. It will also examine additional ways states can strengthen EBT security.

While the resource focuses primarily on SNAP, the issue matters to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs who deliver their benefits through EBT contractors/systems. Benefit theft can disrupt a family's ability to meet basic needs and can create additional stress for families already navigating financial instability. TANF practitioners can use this resource to better understand emerging approaches to benefit protection and to consider how states can make benefit delivery more secure without creating unnecessary barriers for legitimate transactions.

This Jobs for the Future resource examines Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act waiver decisions for 40 states and territories and highlights several emerging approaches, including reaching young people earlier, expanding employer-driven training, increasing on-the-job training flexibility, and extending supportive services after people enter employment.

For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners, the resource provides ideas for strengthening TANF–workforce partnerships and thinking beyond job placement as the end goal. Including transportation, childcare, training, and post-employment supports in the discussion is especially relevant to TANF programs working to help participants not only find jobs, but remain employed and progress toward greater economic stability.

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.

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 Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Child Welfare Coordination (TTCW) program funds demonstration projects administered by the Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) Office of Family Assistance. These projects examine how Tribal governments and Tribal consortia can coordinate TANF, child welfare, and related supportive services for Tribal families at risk of child abuse or neglect. Because families with low incomes who qualify for TANF may be more likely to experience child maltreatment and interact with both TANF and child welfare systems, stronger coordination can help promote family safety and stability.

For Tribal TANF practitioners, this ACF case study provides specific examples of how TTCW projects are improving communication, coordinating case planning, sharing resources, and connecting families with services across systems. The approaches can help TANF programs move beyond one-time referrals and develop stronger partnerships with child welfare staff. The resource is especially useful for Tribal TANF programs seeking practical strategies to identify families’ needs, reduce service gaps, and coordinate supports that address both economic stability and child and family well-being.

Finding relatives and other trusted adults can make a significant difference for children involved in child welfare. The Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network will host a webinar on September 14, 2026 at 2:00 p.m. ET to present how Washington State is rethinking kin search and engagement to identify, locate, and involve family members and other supportive connections earlier in the child welfare process.

For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners, this webinar can help frame conversations about the importance of family and community connections, including how kin may provide support with housing, childcare, transportation, and other needs that affect family stability. The resource is valuable for TANF staff and partners who want to strengthen referrals and coordination across child welfare and economic support systems.

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.