Children rely on the adults in their lives to provide safety and security; unfortunately, this is often difficult for adults living in poverty to provide. As a result, some children living in poverty face developmental challenges that may affect their well-being long term. This article discusses how poverty affects children's brain development and mental health. It also covers risk factors that may affect brain development, how a family’s economic status impacts the amount of gray and white matter volumes in the brain (gray matter controls movement, memory, and emotions while white matter helps with the transfer of information within the brain), and medical and counseling recommendations. Further, the article identifies a number of existing anti-poverty programs, including TANF, that may help reduce the financial burden of living in poverty.

The Office of Family Assistance has released tables that provide demographic data on the age, gender, and race/ethnicity of adults and children in TANF and Separate State Program-Maintenance-of-Effort active families and closed cases, as well as data on the financial circumstances of TANF cash assistance recipients for Federal fiscal year 2021. The data is presented for all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Guam. Data is available in Excel and PDF formats.

Recent state, tribal, and territorial use of pandemic emergency assistance funding (PEAF) demonstrated the utility of providing customized approaches to meet the needs of low-income families. Program evolution, whether driven by a pandemic, legislature, or new evidence-based knowledge about program effectiveness means changes in strategy, business processes, technology systems, and staff roles.

Too often, change is attempted without the creation of a proper foundation to support successful and sustainable implementation. The Office of Family Assistance hosted a webinar on February 23, 2023 to focus on two critical elements that can effectively drive implementation of new approaches and strategies: first, to develop a clear understanding and definition of success, and then, to ground implementation in proven organizational change strategies. During the webinar, speakers provided an overview of these topics and highlight specific examples from state TANF leaders.

Registration for this event is closed.

Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education (HMRE) programming is designed to teach participants how to communicate effectively, manage conflict, identify signs of an unhealthy relationship, and other skills important for developing and maintaining healthy relationships. While research evaluating HMRE programming effectiveness shows that programming often has positive impacts, research also points out that many program participants face additional life stressors that may interfere with healthy couple relationships and family functioning. This brief uses data from a sample of Hispanic couples who participated in an HMRE evaluation to show the prevalence of some of the key economic, demographic, and personal stressors that research identifies as predictive of relationship quality. Some of the key findings of the study reflect that some stressors cannot be eliminated by HMRE programs, and that other stressors (e.g., housing hardship or poor health) can be addressed by utilization of other social service programs, such as TANF, Medicaid, or subsidized housing.

When people struggle to make ends meet, public benefit programs have the potential to help them meet their basic needs for food, housing, health care, and cash. Yet many families and individuals do not participate in the programs that could help meet their needs and for which they are eligible. This report presents a menu of strategies that have the potential to increase access to individual public benefit programs or a package of benefits. Strategies for improving public benefit access can involve revising service delivery practices and processes, changing state or local policies, or using or improving technology. The report focuses on Illinois, but the strategies identified are relevant throughout the country.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Data Collaborative Pilot Initiative is a component of the TANF Data Innovation project. The 30-month pilot offered technical assistance and training to support cross-disciplinary teams of staff at eight state and county TANF programs in the routine use of TANF and other administrative data to inform policy and practice. This collection of eight profiles summarizes the data analytics projects undertaken by teams from California, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, New Jersey, New York, Utah, and Virginia. Each profile provides project-specific details for each pilot, including the research questions, data landscape, approach and research methods, and initial findings and next steps as well as an overview of the state TANF program.

Families affected by substance use disorders and involved in the child welfare system face a variety of complex challenges. Children of parents with substance use disorder are more likely to be removed from parental care, less likely to be reunified, and experience lengthier out-of-home placements and delayed permanency. This brief provides an overview of the Sobriety Treatment and Recovery Teams (START) program — an evidence-based child welfare service delivery model for families that is aimed at keeping children safely with their parent(s) whenever possible through achieving parental sobriety and recovery, and family stability. The brief also highlights the funding and implementation of the START model in Kansas, Kentucky (which uses TANF to support the model), North Carolina, and Ohio, along with each state’s unique considerations.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Data Innovation project and the TANF Data Collaborative (TDC) Pilot were established to expand the routine use, integration, and analysis of TANF and employment data by agency staff to improve program services and outcomes for families with low incomes. The 30-month TDC Pilot offered technical assistance and training to support cross-disciplinary teams of staff at eight state and county TANF programs. This nine-minute video, produced after the completion of the TDC Pilot, features staff members from the California, Colorado, Minnesota, and Virginia TANF agencies reflecting on their challenges, accomplishments, and general experiences during the pilot. Staff describe their research questions and discuss building data capacity, integrating datasets, networking with other states, increasing collaboration between state and county agencies, learning new technical skills, and the benefits of being able to draw from diverse skillsets.

Partnerships between TANF-funded programs and Community Action Agencies (CAAs) are the focus of this video series just released by the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) and the Office of Community Services (OCS). Filmed at four sites across the country, the five brief videos each look at how TANF programs and CAAs are working together to help shared customers achieve social and economic success. The videos are one result of the COVID and Safety Net Innovation (CASI) TA Initiative, a joint OFA and OCS initiative that provided technical assistance to TANF programs and CAAs, helping them develop a joint action plan to strengthen the safety net.

Hampton Roads Community Action Program and the Virginia Department of Social Services: Working together to create a whole family approach.

Audubon Area Community Services and the Kentucky Transitional Assistance Program: Partnering to deliver diverse work opportunities.

Maricopa County Human Services Department and the Arizona Department of Economic Security: Planning a holistic approach to anti-poverty efforts.

Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) and MAHUBE-OTWA Community Action Partnership: The first video explores how DHS and MAHUBE-OTWA collaborate to serve families in a rural area. The second video looks at how they are supporting American Indian/Native American culture.

During the continued recovery from and ongoing response to the COVID-19 epidemic, every member of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) families has experienced a growing set of challenges to their mental well-being. Amplified socioeconomic issues such as the rising cost of daily expenses, especially food, gas, and housing; difficulties with finding quality and long-term employment; and challenges with access to healthcare continue to place an increased mental burden on low-income families. In addition, children who previously found stability at school, even when it was not present at home, have had to endure constant changes in school closures, learning styles, and staff fluctuations and shortages.

Due to the heightened need of mental health services for all members of the family, it is vital that health and human service departments and community organizations consider mental health promotion as part of a comprehensive approach to service delivery. TANF programs provide an important touchpoint to low-income families facing mental health challenges and can improve access and utilization of mental health services for parents and children.

The Office of Family Assistance hosted a webinar on January 26, 2023 where speakers discussed the intersection between poverty, trauma, and mental health and shared strategies that could help improve long-term mental health outcomes for low-income families. Webinar attendees engaged with speakers and peers in dialogue focused on building mental health service strategies for TANF families impacted by various traumas.