Question from Pennsylvania Department of Human Services

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) has posted Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) and Separate State Program (SSP) caseload and application data for the first and second quarters of FY 2015. For the first two quarters of FY 2015, the monthly average was 1,663,008 families receiving assistance (TANF & SSP), which represents a decrease of less than one percent (.45) from the prior fiscal year of 1,670,576. The monthly average number of recipients for FY 2015 was 4,178,589 receiving assistance (TANF & SSP), which represents an increase of approximately 6.6% from the prior fiscal year of 3,919,192.

This resource from the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) explains the provisions from the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) regarding revisions to performance management requirements. Some of these revisions include: new measures of interim skill gains; new approaches to defining overall performance success; and revised sanctions for states.

This fact sheet from the Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) examines the changing relationship of whether the government or the custodial family is owed child support arrears, and how this influences the financial stability of TANF participants. Child support arrears accrued during periods of TANF received have declined from 51% of total arrears in 2002 to 26% of total arrears in 2013; possible reasons for this decline include increased TANF arrears collection, or decreased number of cases on TANF, or the amount of TANF arrears owed per case. OCSE data collected since 1999 is used to analyze these potential reasons and a possible relationship with the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. Policies that continue to shift the distribution of TANF arrears from the government to families are shown to have a powerful effect on TANF participants’ financial success as well as state revenue.

Previous research has shown that receiving child support not only reduces the chance of families returning to welfare, but that it also reduces child poverty and, on average, accounts for 40% of a low-income family’s income. This study examines the relationship between child support receipt in Maryland and returns to the TANF program. Results show that women who do not receive child support after leaving the program are far more likely to return to welfare; that larger and more consistent child support payments reduce the chances of a family returning to welfare; and that receiving any child support reduces recidivism, though this is less likely for women with lower incomes.

From June 29 to July 1, 2015, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA), hosted the Systems to Family Stability National Policy Academy meeting in Washington, D.C. at the Loews Madison Hotel. Eight teams (seven states and one county) participated in this kick-off meeting for the dynamic, 18-month policy academy that is designed to build collaborative systems within and across agencies to improve family economic security. The Academy has three primary objectives:
1) Build career pathways through job-driven training and alignment of TANF and workforce systems;
2) Improve business processes and systems coordination; and
3) Enhance case management by understanding brain science and applying two-generation approaches.
Over the course of the three-day meeting, experts presented the research evidence base, and sites had the opportunity to learn from peer programs’ development and implementation across these three objectives. In addition to plenary and breakout sessions, the agenda included eight hours of dedicated team time for sites to receive individualized coaching and facilitation from technical assistance coaches and expert content faculty.

This brief establishes the basics of readiness using the R=MC2 (Readiness = Motivation × General Capacity and Intervention-Specific Capacity) heuristic, examines some of the policy implications of readiness, and identifies directions for future research. Although a scientific body of knowledge about readiness already exists, there is a need to develop more concrete recommendations for federal agencies and practitioners to use when implementing evidence-based interventions.

This assessment sought to provide a clear picture of recent changes implemented by local program managers to improve performance, several years after the initial wave of change brought about by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PRWORA). The legislation and related regulations included several provisions that strengthened the program’s work participation requirements.

This resource includes data from each state’s TANF work participation rates, which measure how well states engage families receiving assistance in certain work activities. States must meet an overall and a two-parent work participation requirement to avoid a potential financial penalty. The statutory requirements for FY 2012 are 50% for all families and 90% for two-parent families, but a state’s individual target rates equal the statutory rates minus a credit for reducing its caseload.

On June 22, 2015, the Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance (OFA) convened the Strengthening Collaboration between TANF and WIOA National Experts Roundtable in Washington, DC. The roundtable brought together a select group of practice, policy, and research experts to discuss the opportunities and challenges that the new Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) system offers to Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) participants, programs, and systems.