This blog post from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is part of the Self-Sufficiency Series: Solutions from the Field. The series profiles local programs from across the country finding solutions that meet HHS’s Strategic Plan for encouraging self-sufficiency and personal responsibility, and eliminating barriers to economic opportunity. The blog highlights the partnership between the Nurse-Family Partnership and Goodwill of Central and Southern Indiana. The organizations have joined hands to improve the health of low-income, first-time mothers and their babies and to strengthen the economic stability of their families.

This interactive tool provided by the National Center for Children in Poverty allows users to identify current legislation and policies across states regarding these following key policy areas and others: child care and development fund subsidies, family and medical leave, SNAP eligibility, Medicaid income limits, and TANF eligibility criteria. The tracker enables policy and decision makers to learn about policies in the social and poverty domain.

On October 17, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) issued a joint Information Memorandum (IM) to all ACF programs emphasizing the importance of meaningful father involvement to better serve children and families. In particular, this memorandum highlights research findings that demonstrate the value of fathers’ involvement in the lives of their children and families, as well as identifies promising practices to promote and sustain fathers’ engagement, regardless of their physical location or extent of custodial participation.

This blog post from Clarence H. Carter, Director, Office of Family Assistance, announces the release of an information memorandum that details efforts to prioritize and enhance father engagement in ACF-funded programs. The memorandum was signed by the leadership of the Administration on Children, Youth and Families, including the Children’s Bureau, the Family and Youth Services Bureau, the Office of Child Support Enforcement, the Office of Family Assistance, the Office of Child Care, and the Office of Head Start. ACF affirms its commitment to fathers and families and encourages paternal involvement in family support and child welfare programs.

This journal article presents findings from a longitudinal study which examined the relationship between intimate partner violence (IPV), five mental disorders (depression, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, panic attack, posttraumatic stress disorder [PTSD]), alcohol abuse/dependence, drug abuse/dependence, treatment seeking (from physician, counselor, and self-help group), employment, child support, and welfare participation. Drawn from records extracted from the study "Violence Against Women and the Role of Welfare Reform" (VAWRWR), a key finding was that experiencing controlling behaviors reduced likelihood of welfare participation, while experiencing physical abuse increased it. Panic attack, drug abuse/dependence, and employment wielded significant impact on welfare participation rates; treatment seeking and child support made no significant impact on welfare rates.

This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation-funded (OPRE) study illustrates the early implementation of the Ramsey County, Minnesota, Lifelong Learning Initiative (LLI). Research has found that chronic stress associated with living in poverty can hinder executive skills, such as planning, decision-making, and organizing. The LLI uses a goal-oriented approach to help TANF recipients set their own employment-focused goals by breaking them down into more manageable tasks and develop these executive skills as they work toward employment outcomes.

This Administration for Children and Families (ACF) blog post discusses the “power of work” relative to the nation’s safety net, as well as ACF’s encouragement of state TANF programs to harness this power when striving to improve employment outcomes. ACF’s Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation is evaluating programs and methods that promote work among TANF recipients and other TANF-eligible populations, while also assessing job search assistance strategies, career pathways, and subsidized/transitional employment initiatives. Looking ahead, ACF’s Office of Family Assistance will continue work with state TANF agencies to identify models for career pathways, coaching case management, and employment-related initiatives. As well, the Fiscal Year 2019 President’s Budget proposal included a request for a minimum funding level for resources to support states as they invest in work-related programming.

The Office of Family Assistance published data tables which cover TANF and SSP-MOE caseloads by state and at a national level from October 2017 through June 2018. The tables are cross-tabbed to include total recipients, total families, total children, one-parent families, two-parent families, no parent families, adults, and monthly caseload data.

The Office of Family Assistance recently released a set of data tables to illustrate the number of TANF applications which were received, approved, or denied monthly for both calendar and fiscal years 2010 through 2018. These tables reflect both state and national data.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance (OFA) Regions I through IV hosted the OFA Regions I-IV East Coast TANF Directors’ Meeting, Leveraging Partnerships to Help Families Achieve Economic Stability, on July 24-26, 2018 at the Westin Boston Waterfront in Boston, Massachusetts. The meeting convened representatives from TANF programs from Regions I-IV and provided TANF representatives with an opportunity to learn about promising practices, discuss shared challenges faced by TANF programs, and share ideas with peers from other states about how to respond to the needs of low-income families. The meeting also included practitioners and researchers who shared information about their own work, and who looked to TANF representatives and federal partners for future research opportunities. Representatives attended presentations from experts and program administrators, and worked with other states to think of innovative practices during Team Work sessions.