Research shows that economic supports are critical to family well-being and prevention; programs including child support, SNAP, Medicaid, and TANF play a pivotal role. These programs intersect in complex ways impacting the lives of children and families. In 2022, the American Public Human Services Association partnered with the National Child Support Engagement Association and the National Council of Child Support Directors to establish a forum for TANF administrators and child support directors to improve collaborative ties across programs. Since the initial creation, this forum has expanded to a Technical Working Group of administrators in child support, TANF, SNAP, and child welfare, parents, and other national partners to identify foundational principles for coordination and collaboration in economic supports inclusive of child support programs. This publication highlights key practices and policy levers that can better support the families they serve.

The Child Support Enforcement (CSE) program was enacted in 1975 as a federal-state program and served to reduce public expenditures for recipients of cash assistance by obtaining ongoing support from noncustodial parents that could be used to reimburse the state and federal governments for part of that assistance. Over the years, CSE has evolved into a multifaceted program. While public assistance cost recovery remains an important function of the program, its other aspects include service delivery and promotion of self-sufficiency and parental responsibility. This Congressional Research Service summary explores how the CSE program has different rules for assistance families (e.g., those receiving cash benefits under TANF) and non-assistance families. Additionally, the summary highlights each of the CSE program’s seven major services -- (1) parent location, (2) paternity establishment, (3) establishment of child support orders, (4) review and modification of child support orders, (5) collection of child support payments, (6) distribution of child support payments, and (7) establishment and enforcement of medical support – and discusses how they impact TANF families.

This announcement from Tanguler Gray, Commissioner of the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Child Support Services (OCSS) notes how whole-family, community based strategies are one of the five strategic goals of the Administration for Children and Families and that State, Tribal, and local child support programs are uniquely positioned to advance these strategies because of their extensive interactions with parents and caregivers. It references several OCSS goals for advancing whole-family strategies, as well as a Child Support Awareness Month webpage with a social media toolkit to help spread the word.

In support of the Administration for Children and Families’ (ACF) mission and strategic plan, ACF has developed a set of materials intended to provide guidance to hard-to-reach populations to increase their awareness and understanding of the array of resources that may be able to assist them. These resources are explicitly designed to be user-friendly and easy to digest. The materials include resources for transition-age youth exiting foster care, families with children ages 0-12, prospective Head Start participants, survivors of domestic violence looking to find and keep housing, fathers looking for benefits programs or parenting tips, and providers supporting those seeking post-disaster housing.

The number of children living in multigenerational households has been increasing steadily since the 1980s, and as of 2021, more than 10% of children share a home with two or more generations. About 30% of children will live in a multigenerational or skipped-generation household at some point during their childhood. This is even more common for children of color and for those whose adult family members are low income. The Institute for Research on Poverty will host a virtual session on September 6, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET to examine the scope of the issue and its implications for child wellbeing and security, as well as opportunities in policy and practice to support these household members.

The Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, in partnership with the Children’s Bureau, announces a new TANF-Child Welfare Learning Community. The “Families Are Stronger Together: TANF & Child Welfare Partnering for Prevention Learning Community (FAST-LC)” will center on innovative prevention strategies to mitigate and reduce families’ involvement with the child welfare system. The FAST-LC is a one-year initiative slated to launch in September 2023 and conclude in September 2024 and will involve up to 10 state and tribal TANF programs.

A self-nomination package to participate in the FAST-LC can be requested and questions can be submitted at any time by contacting TANF-CWLearningCommunity@blhtech.com. An interest webinar was held on August 10, 2023 from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. ET to provide additional information about the FAST-LC and the self-nomination process as well as answer live questions. All steps needed to complete self-nomination submissions must be completed by September 7, 2023 at 6:00 p.m. ET.

This fact sheet provides information about the assignment, pass-through, and distribution of child support for parents who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). It outlines pass-through payments for families currently receiving TANF and families no longer receiving TANF. It also covers child support distribution for current and former TANF recipients.

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and its federal agency partners invite stakeholders to participate in the "Our Future Matters: Informing the Federal Interagency Strategy" national online dialogue. This important virtual conversation aims to enhance policies and practices to facilitate a smooth transition to adulthood for youth with disabilities.

Through the dialogue, federal staff will seek input on ways to enhance services for youth and young adults with disabilities in the following areas:

• Education
• Employment
• Health and Human Services
• Social Security

Please join this important conversation by visiting the dialogue now through August 14, 2023. Simply log on, register, submit ideas, or comment and vote on ideas submitted by others.

The Strengthening the Implementation of Responsible Fatherhood Programs (SIRF) project used an iterative learning approach, or learning cycles, to build evidence on promising practices for increasing participation in fatherhood programs. Fatherhood programs participating in the SIRF study implemented promising approaches to increase fathers’ participation, worked with the study team to assess how the approaches could be strengthened, and applied what they learned from those assessments to the next cycle. Each program tested one of three broad approaches to improving fathers’ enrollment, engagement, and retention in services. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation reflection includes six videos featuring program staff members and mentors describing the SIRF approaches tested and how the participants responded to those approaches.