Building a Trauma-Informed Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program

This toolkit responds to a technical assistance request by the Vermont Department for Children and Families Reach Up program to support ongoing efforts seeking to better serve families through a trauma-informed lens. The toolkit reflects information gathered through a series of ongoing discussions and two site visits with leadership and staff from the Vermont Department for Children and Families that occurred between March and October 2019. It uses the Vermont Reach Up program as a model to illustrate how other TANF programs can apply and adapt information and tools to inform their efforts to build more trauma-informed policies, practices, and offices.