Oversight of America’s welfare system is still falling short of protecting taxpayers and preventing waste, fraud and abuse. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that the Department of Health and Human Services must do more to monitor states’ use of welfare funding under the TANF program – including strengthening the department’s fraud risk management efforts to improve outreach and coordination with states and establishing better guidance to improve accountability. The House Committee on Ways & Means released this resource that provides a background on the congressional watchdog reports, including the original request made to the GAO in 2023.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury has engaged with Emergency Rental Assistance grantees across the country to identify program strategies that promise to speed up program implementation, more efficiently deliver program benefits, enhance program integrity, and improve tenant and landlord access to programs. This Treasury webpage highlights a promising practice, Implementing Program Integrity Measures, including advantages, strategies, and examples.

Chapter 1, “Best Practices for Strengthening Federal Programs,” from the Pandemic Response Accountability Committee’s Blueprint for Enhanced Program Integrity, highlighted strategies and concrete steps from pandemic programs that can be adopted in current and future federal programs that provide critical financial assistance and services. To help agencies in preventing and deterring fraud, waste, and abuse prior to releasing funds in a timely manner, this chapter identifies key recommendations related to the development, implementation, and maintenance of strong internal controls, even during crises.

The Office of Child Care (OCC) works with Child Care Development Funds grantees to ensure that all program funds are used to the benefit of eligible children and families. This OCC factsheet highlights their efforts to strengthen program integrity by focusing on reducing administrative errors and preventing, detecting, and eliminating fraud.

In December 1995, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) asked the President’s Council on Integrity and Efficiency (PCIE) to determine if there were sufficient provisions for accountability in Federal block grant programs. This PCIE resource responds to the original OMB request primarily by focusing on the statutes of 13 Federal programs commonly referred to as block grants. It concentrates on the statutes because of their fundamental significance in establishing a framework for accountability.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is committed to combating Medicaid provider fraud, waste, and abuse which diverts dollars that could otherwise be spent to safeguard the health and welfare of Americans. This Medicaid webpage explores CMS’ responsibilities under the Medicaid Integrity Program, including but not limited to state program integrity reviews, compliance and fraud referral toolkits, and program integrity review report lists.

This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network primer was developed to offer service providers basic information about federal programs that can be used to finance kinship services and programs. Information for each source includes which federal agency administers the funding source, services the funding source can finance, and basic eligibility information. This funding primer is not intended to be an in-depth explanation of each source but, rather, a high-level overview that can be used to aid further research.

Family Resource Centers (FRCs) are community-based resource hubs where families can access support to promote child safety and child and family well-being. As conveniently located community or school-based hubs, FRCs bundle and co-locate many services, such as home visiting, parenting education, health screenings, childcare resources and referrals, playgroups, family counseling, government benefits screening, healthy eating and living activities, and food pantries. This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network resource highlights takeaways from learning collaboratives in three states that explored increased collaboration between kinship navigators and FRCs.