This report from Prosperity Now provides information about why creating savings penalties towards welfare programs such as SNAP and SSI actually harm families instead of aiding them. Studies have shown that low-income families with savings are able to more easily handle financial shocks. Most states are in the process of eliminating savings penalties due to the fact that eliminating them reduces administrative costs and caseloads.

This brief provides a graphical overview of selected state policy differences for TANF cash assistance. The Welfare Rules Database (WRD), a database maintained by the Urban Institute and funded by the OPRE and ACF, provides the information for this brief. The paper discusses policies related to initial eligibility, benefit amounts, and ongoing eligibility. Additional information about the resources the WRD offers is also included.

Due to its accountability and efficiency, Performance-Based Contracting has been identified as a topic of interest among TANF programs around the nation. In response to TANF programs' desire for information and strategies for creating sustainable and lasting contracted partnerships, this podcast was convened on May 22, 2018 to provide practical strategies for implementing a performance-based contract. Sisifo Taatiti from the Utah Department of Workforce Services provided a dynamic overview of performance-based contracts and how their journey has progressed to produce positive outcomes for TANF programming.

This practice brief from Mathematica Policy Research and the Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation offers a different approach for human service programs to test new service approaches. Traditionally, programs will conduct a pilot program before launching a full initiative, but this brief offers an alternative approach called a "road test." The brief explains the difference between the two approaches and how to conduct a road test and offers an example from a county that used the approach.

This blog post from the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) provides an overview of conversations about ACF priorities that staff had at the recent American Public Human Services Association’s 2018 National Health and Human Services Summit. The main theme of the conversations was how to best engage all families served via ACF programs.

This brief, circulated by ASPE, details the methodology used in the report Substance Use, the Opioid Epidemic, and Child Welfare Caseloads: A Mixed Methods Study. Methods utilized included statistical modeling, geospatial analysis, and qualitative interviewing and analysis. Research centered on six questions, including exploring the relationship between substance use prevalence and child welfare caseloads, how parental substance misuse affects caseloads and outcomes, and whether opioid misuse impacts welfare differently than other types of substance use.

This resource from the National Responsible Fatherhood Clearinghouse highlights a rural community partnership between a fatherhood program and local child support agency. In this case study, authors describe the development of a partnership in Merced County, California and lessons learned.

This report from the Urban Institute shares the experiences of women who have received TANF cash assistance for more than five years in the District of Columbia. Recently, the District changed their policy to do away with the five-year time limit for full benefits and as of April 1, 2018, those past the five- year limit will still receive full benefits. The report does not evaluate the DC TANF program but provides a picture in time of the participating women's experiences as DC embarks on services changes and improvements to their program.