The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announced a new childcare reform package aimed at making childcare more affordable, expanding access for families, and increasing parental choice. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, this announcement is especially important because childcare challenges often affect whether parents can participate in work, education, or training activities consistently. The announcement helps TANF practitioners understand emerging federal priorities and how childcare policy may continue to evolve to better support working families.

This ACF resource can also help TANF practitioners identify opportunities to strengthen coordination between TANF and childcare systems while reducing barriers that prevent parents from maintaining employment. The reforms emphasize flexibility and accessibility, which may be particularly valuable for families with non-traditional work schedules or limited local childcare options. By staying informed about these changes, TANF staff can better connect families to supports that promote stability and long-term economic mobility.

This collection of resources focuses on improving coordination across workforce, education, and human services systems. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies, better alignment with Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) programs can help participants access job training, career pathways, and supportive services more efficiently. Families involved with TANF may interact with several programs at once, while disconnected systems can create confusion, delays, and duplicated work for both staff and clients. This collection can help practitioners understand how stronger partnerships and shared planning can improve service delivery and reduce barriers to employment. Resources in this collection can also be useful for TANF agencies looking to streamline referrals, strengthen cross-program collaboration, and build more connected pathways to economic mobility.

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.

Childcare support is a key piece of how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs help parents work, attend training, and stay on track toward stability. But increased attention on fraud and improper payments can create pressure to tighten rules in ways that may unintentionally limit access. The American Public Human Services Association will host a webinar on June 4, 2026 at 1:30 p.m. ET that will focus on how better system design can prevent issues before they happen, rather than reacting after the fact.

The webinar will walk through where childcare subsidy breakdowns typically occur, such as in eligibility, attendance tracking, or payment processes, and shows how aligning these pieces can reduce errors without adding extra steps for staff or families. For TANF practitioners, this helps address a common challenge: maintaining program integrity while keeping services accessible and manageable. It points to practical ways to build safeguards directly into everyday workflows.

By understanding that many issues stem from system gaps rather than individual behavior, TANF staff can use this resource to strengthen oversight in a way that supports both accountability and access—helping ensure families continue receiving the childcare support they need to stay employed.

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.

This Institute for Family Studies resource looks at how job stability for men and flexible work arrangements for mothers influence decisions around forming and sustaining families. It brings attention to how work conditions shape family life in practical ways, not just financial ones. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, it can help frame policy and service discussions around employment supports that recognize caregiving responsibilities while also strengthening pathways to economic stability.

This report by the Institute for Family Studies explores how different family structures are associated with child well-being outcomes, highlighting patterns that link stability in the home with stronger developmental outcomes for children. The Family Structure Index helps clarify why family composition is often connected to long-term opportunity and stability. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, it can inform broader conversations about prevention and support strategies that aim to strengthen home environments and emphasize the importance of families.