The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) released a report that discusses issues and potential options for: 1) TANF's role in providing cash assistance to low-income families, 2) measuring TANF work participation, and 3) information on States' use of TANF funds. The report also reviews relevant Federal laws, regulations, and agency documents, along with transcripts from relevant congressional hearings from 2009 through 2012, which provide information on issues and options identified by members of Congress.

The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) updated their Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Policy Brief, addressing the new TANF block grants that have been authorized under a series of short-term extensions. This brief discusses the goals of the reauthorization and provides a summary of recommendations along with brief descriptions of each of the nine recommendations made.

A new question and answer has been posted to the Office of Family Assistance Web site (see Question two of the Q & A: Drug Convictions). This item responds to the question as to whether or not an individual with a felony drug conviction can receive TANF non-assistance services.

Child-only cases have become a substantial presence in the United States' TANF caseload, representing a large portion of TANF cases. Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago released a report with the purpose of aiding policy makers as they contemplate modifications to TANF. This report has three goals: to describe child-only policies and explore how these policies create and shape child-only cases; to provide information about the needs of children and adults in households that receive child-only aid; and to situate child-only TANF policy in the context of other relevant policies.

This Urban Institute report details how state policy decisions affect TANF program administration in five states: California, Florida, Michigan, Texas, and Washington. The authors examined both cash assistance and other aspects of the block grant, plus how states responded to the Deficit Reduction Act and the recession.

The Urban Institute published the "Low-Income Working Families Fact Sheet" for August 2012. Within this fact sheet, information about what has been learned about the TANF program over the past 16 years has been summarized. Elements of TANF legislation is briefly addressed, along with the notation of the six considerable differences between TANF and the terminated Aid to Dependent Families and Children (AFDC).

This resource, from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, provides answers to common questions on the Tribal TANF Final Rule. There are answers to questions on TANF assistance, funding, uses of Tribal TANF grants, work activities, and data reporting.

New regulations to strengthen welfare reform were published February 5, 2008 in the Federal Register. The changes to the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program will help move individuals off of the welfare rolls and into the workplace by giving states the flexibility to design their own effective welfare-to-work initiatives.

The Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation authored the Annual Report to Congress for 2007 on Indicators of Welfare Dependence. Welfare dependence is defined as the proportion of individuals that receive more than half of their total income in one year from TANF, food stamps and/or SSI. This report provides welfare dependence indicators through 2004 and offers information on the changes in dependence since the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act of 1996. In 2004, 3.7 percent of the total population was dependent on assistance from these programs, which is significantly lower than the 5.2 percent rate measured in 1996.

The TANF Seventh Annual Report to Congress has been published, reporting on FY 2003. Since the enactment of TANF, millions of families on the TANF caseload have achieved stable employment. Employment among low-income single mothers has increased significantly since 1996, and child poverty rates have declined.