This handbook, created by the advocacy organization Wider Opportunities for Women, provides step-by-step tools for case managers to use to help domestic violence survivors move toward economic security. First, the handbook gives an overview of the basics of economic security and the impact of economic abuse, then it provides information on the four steps necessary for a caseworker to help survivors develop an individual economic security plan: assessment, goal setting, identifying and connecting with resources, and continuing support.

This 2014 memo from ACF provides domestic violence training, resources, and potential opportunities for collaboration between TANF agencies and their partners. Resources include information on TANF’s Family Violence Option, which allows states to establish a special program within TANF to serve victims of domestic violence. There is also information provided on assessing a family’s domestic violence history during TANF intake, and partnering with domestic violence shelter programs to provide training for human services staff. The memo ends with lists of domestic violence hotlines, webinars, culturally specific resources, and other national domestic violence resources.

Many survivors of domestic violence have criminal records due to coerced criminal acts experienced at the hands of their partner. Survivors with a criminal record face significant challenges in accessing employment and achieving economic security. This tool is designed to help survivors better understand their employment rights, and offers tips and resources as they prepare for the job search process.

Every October, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) and other organizations across the country take time to raise awareness about the 12 million women and men who are victims of domestic violence each year in the United States. Throughout the month, advocates mobilize to mourn the lives lost to domestic violence, celebrate domestic violence prevention and intervention efforts, and connect to a community that collectively strives for the safety and wellbeing of all its citizens.

This National Resource Center for Healthy Marriage and Families toolkit is designed to help stakeholders help safety-net service providers and other stakeholders sustainably integrate healthy marriage and relationship education into their services for military service members and their families. The guide uses a three-stage process, allowing readers to: (1) better understand military structure and culture; (2) better understand and connect with existing resources for military service members and their families; and (3) learn more about the role that core marriage and relationship skills play in work, school, family, and military environments.

This report from the Foundation for Child Development highlights the benefits of dual-generation programs in terms of children’s outcomes. Specifically, research shows the many disparities between children whose mothers had not graduated from high school and children whose mothers had obtained a bachelor’s degree. Children whose mothers had not graduated from high school experience higher rates of poverty, lower rates of mathematics and reading proficiencies, a lower likelihood of graduating high school on time, and poorer overall health. The report also spotlights dual-generation programs in Tulsa, Oklahoma and Los Angeles, California. Finally, the authors offer policy options for all levels of government to develop and implement successful dual-generation programs.

In most of the two-generational strategies and programs, the attention is mainly focused on mothers. However, this brief from the Center for Law and Social Policy explains the early evidence from research that shows if noncustodial parents - mostly young men - are successfully employed and in healthy relationships in their own lives, they can also contribute to more successful outcomes for their children, both financially and emotionally.

The Child Welfare Information Gateway released a brief that provides an overview of the crossover between the child welfare and human trafficking fields. There is a particular focus on sex trafficking of children and youth, since that type of trafficking is more likely to affect the child welfare population. This resource includes background information, highlights of Federal legislation, and recommendations for child welfare agencies to address this issue.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies are operating in a challenging post-recession environment with growing program demands and shrinking state and local budgets. This brief describes the changing demands on state TANF programs, and how states have responded. It also describes opportunities for growth and improvement that TANF programs might consider.

With information from the interviews conducted as part of the Parents and Children Together (PACT) Evaluation, this report presents findings about fathers’ perceptions of their roles as parents and partners. Specifically, the evidence relates to fathers’ perceptions of their own childhoods, challenges, employment, child support experiences, relationships, and participation in fatherhood programs.