Patterns and Trends in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Participation

This Chapin Hall brief helps unpack how families actually move through Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) over time, going beyond simple caseload counts to show how long families stay connected to support. One of the key insights is that child-only cases now make up about the same share of the caseload as adult recipient cases, shifting how programs need to think about engagement and service design. It also shows that child-only cases are 44% less likely to exit TANF at any point than adult-recipient cases, pointing to a group that may experience longer or more stable reliance on assistance.

For TANF practitioners, this brief highlights where systems may be working as intended—and where families may be getting “stuck” without clear pathways forward. Child-only cases often involve caregivers like relatives raising children without receiving benefits themselves, which can change how support needs to be structured. Practitioners can use these insights to rethink outreach, adjust case management strategies, and design supports that better match the different experiences within the caseload, rather than treating all cases the same.