A Question about Relative Caregivers of Children with Parents who Experience Substance Misuse

This National Center on Leadership for the Employment and Economic Advancement of People with Disabilities (LEAD Center) tool provides TANF front-line staff with access to a directory of each state’s agencies for labor, health, vocational rehabilitation, mental and behavioral health, developmental disabilities, and other relevant agencies. With easy navigation, users can select any state to explore its executive orders, state legislation, policies, programs, initiatives and state plans that support workforce inclusion and equal opportunities for people with disabilities to achieve competitive integrated employment outcomes. 

For more information, please contact Yvonne Wright at ywright@ndi-inc.org.

Based on input from state TANF programs during the 2023 National TANF Directors’ Meeting, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) developed five virtual Learning Collaboratives (LCs) on topics best addressed through a cohort-based, peer learning format. These LCs were designed to be a progressive series of interactive meetings that facilitated reflection, peer sharing, connection with experts, and human-centered design and planning activities to deeply explore facets of the collaborative topic. Sessions were held monthly from March to August 2024 for 60-90 minutes.

The Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA) has prompted states to think about how they track employment and other TANF program outcomes. The Creating Outcomes-based TANF Programs LC was designed to guide states through a collaborative learning journey focused on reporting on employment and other outcomes in light of the new FRA requirements. Participants worked to better understand what it means to focus on outcomes, and what successful outcomes look like for the families they serve. Participating states and territories included New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, Georgia, North Carolina, Minnesota, Louisiana, New Mexico, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Utah.

This OFA resource highlights the Creating Outcomes-based TANF Programs LC, including key takeaways and resources from each session as well as overall themes and future considerations for follow-up.

This Urban Institute resource follows the House Committee on Ways and Means Hearing on Reforming Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF): States’ Misuse of Welfare Funds Leaves Poor Families Behind, held in September 2024. The resource explains that using TANF funds for activities seemingly unrelated to the program’s core goals, even if technically legal, undermines the integrity of TANF. The resource also provides supporting evidence that parents with low incomes have intrinsic motivations for employment, that TANF work requirements can be counterproductive, and that shifting TANF funding to the broader workforce development system could leave recipient families behind. The resource offers evidence-based recommendations on how access to and accountability for TANF block grant funds can better ensure the program supports employment and children in need.

Based on input from state TANF programs during the 2023 National TANF Directors’ Meeting, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) developed five virtual Learning Collaboratives (LCs) on topics best addressed through a cohort-based, peer learning format. These LCs were designed to be a progressive series of interactive meetings that facilitated reflection, peer sharing, connection with experts, and human-centered design and planning activities to deeply explore facets of the collaborative topic. Sessions were held monthly from March to August 2024 for 60-90 minutes.

The Building Strategic Partnerships with Child Welfare Services LC was connected TANF professionals interested in building strategic partnerships with child welfare partners with experts and one another. It was designed to prepare states to partner with child welfare services to jointly explore a key area for upstream prevention, given the growing body of evidence demonstrating how the concrete and economic supports available through TANF can prevent and reduce families’ involvement with the child welfare system. Participating states included Massachusetts, Vermont, New Jersey, Alabama, North Carolina, and Wisconsin.

This OFA resource highlights the Building Strategic Partnerships with Child Welfare Services LC, including key takeaways and resources from each session as well as overall themes and future considerations for follow-up.

Based on input from state TANF programs during the 2023 National TANF Directors’ Meeting, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) developed five virtual Learning Collaboratives (LCs) on topics best addressed through a cohort-based, peer learning format. These LCs were designed to be a progressive series of interactive meetings that facilitated reflection, peer sharing, connection with experts, and human-centered design and planning activities to deeply explore facets of the collaborative topic. Sessions were held monthly from March to August 2024 for 60-90 minutes.

The Overcoming Barriers to TANF Participation LC gathered TANF program leaders motivated by the many families facing barriers to accessing TANF or needed financial support despite their eligibility. The LC provided the opportunity for states to connect with each other while learning new strategies that may increase TANF participation for greater family well-being. It was designed to encourage participants to take steps to identify a priority barrier to participation in their TANF program. Participating states and territories included New Hampshire, New York, New Jersey, Virgin Islands, Pennsylvania, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, Minnesota, New Mexico, Hawaii, and Wyoming.

This OFA resource highlights the Strengthening Overcoming Barriers to TANF Participation LC, including key takeaways and resources from each session as well as overall themes and future considerations for follow-up.

In September 2024, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) continued its investment in economic mobility with a gathering of state government officials from across ACF’s Region V. This gathering emphasized the role states can play in engaging families in the policy process, including working with philanthropy to ensure funding for creative solutions to problems confronting parents, and actively collaborating with state legislators to ensure the actionability of legislative solutions. This ACF resource provides a recap of the Region V summit, including an overview of each state’s innovative strategies to support expectant parents and the parents of young children. Strategies highlighted include the creation of a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) engagement unit in Illinois, expansion of Medicaid coverage for 12 months postpartum in Indiana, the launching of Family Connects in Ohio and Family Impacts Teams project in Michigan, standing up of the newly created Department of Children, Youth, and Families in Minnesota, and the creation of the Wisconsin Child Support Parent Advisory Group.

In response to the joint memo from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and the Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service where they expressed their awareness of increasing reports of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) theft, Congress passed the Consolidated Continuing Appropriations Act in December 2022 to outline provisions for the use of federal funds to replace stolen Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. This ACF program instruction provides guidance to states in the use of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funds to support families facing an economic crisis, primarily due to the loss of TANF benefits stolen via card skimming, card cloning, and other similar fraudulent methods.

Families experiencing poverty who do not have access to economic assistance are more likely to be involved with the child welfare system than their counterparts experiencing poverty who do have access to economic assistance. Families of color are disproportionately affected and harmed by this link between the lack of economic assistance and child welfare system involvement. Considering the first statutory goal of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is to support needy families so that children remain safely at home or with relatives, TANF cash assistance can be leveraged to ensure families struggling to meet their basic needs have access to a robust set of concrete and economic supports. Research demonstrates that providing cash to families can reduce the risk of economic hardship and rates of child maltreatment and family involvement in child welfare, while also promoting stability. This recording is of a 2024 Research and Evaluation Conference on Self-Sufficiency plenary session, where panelists discussed research, practice, and policy considerations around how TANF can be used as a primary prevention resource to provide tailored and tangible economic supports to families at risk of engaging with the child welfare system. The Director of the Office of Family Assistance, Ann Flagg, moderated this plenary session.

The Office of Family Assistance released a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) for states seeking information on implementing the new Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) work outcome measure provisions in the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023. The FAQ resource is designed to respond to questions that the Office of Family Assistance has received that are not answered in existing resources and/or where language in the technical resource required additional clarification.