This resource is for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program administrators who are interested in adopting coaching practices within their programs. It includes matrices that compare five employment coaching models that are in use today with TANF-eligible populations: Family Centered Coaching, Goal4 It!^TM, the Human Services Coaching Framework, MyGoals for Employment Success, and Mobility Mentoring^®. This resource also includes short snapshots that describe the key characteristics of each coaching model and contact information for their developers. Four are being used directly in a TANF setting and one can be adopted to a TANF setting. Project IMPROVE, funded by the Office of Family Assistance, aims to bridge the gap between human services research and practice.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Administration for Children and Families (ACF), Office of Family Assistance (OFA), held the 2019 National Tribal TANF/NEW Summit at the Crystal Gateway Marriott in Arlington, Virginia on September 16-17, 2019. Sponsored by the Office of Family Assistance (OFA), the 2019 National Tribal TANF/NEW Summit brought together program administrators, stakeholders, and leaders. The event provided attendees with opportunities to interact with peers, hear from experts in the field, and share best practices and the latest self-sufficiency research, with the common goal of improving Tribal TANF/NEW programming to benefit families in need.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) requests caseload data for October 2019 on the number of foster children supported with public funds and the number of children in families receiving TANF payments in excess of the poverty income level under the 2019 HHS Poverty Guidelines. The data will be used as part of a formula to allocate FY 2020 U.S. Department of Education, Title I, Part A of Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) funds. Data provided to ACF must include the name of the local education agency (LEA) (or county, if not available by LEA) and reporting code shown on the list. Form ACF-4125 must be submitted by December 31, 2019 by regular mail or e-mail. Failure to provide data will result in the loss of Title I funds.

More than half the caseload of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program consists of child-only cases, in which a child receives TANF cash assistance but the parent or caregiver does not. The most common type of child-only case is a nonparent caregiver case, consisting of children being cared for by someone other than their parents, often a grandparent. Research suggests that nonparent caregiver cases are often vulnerable with many unmet needs and that the children in these cases share characteristics with children living in foster care: mental health conditions, school-related problems, and experience with trauma. Kinship navigator programs can be an important tool for supporting these families. Most states are developing or expanding these programs, and the federal government has provided funding in fiscal years 2018 and 2019 to state and eligible tribal child welfare agencies to develop, enhance, or evaluate kinship navigator programs. The Family First Prevention Services Act amended the Social Security Act to allow title IV-E agencies to receive funding for kinship navigator programs that meet certain evidence-based criteria; see ACYF-CB-PI-18-11 for program requirements.

On July 16, 2019, the Office of Family Assistance, in collaboration with the Children’s Bureau, sponsored a webinar that featured kinship navigator programs operating in three states and the services they offer to nonparent caregivers. Arizona Kinship Support Services connects kinship families to government benefits, links them to legal services, and helps them navigate existing community support systems. California’s UWCA-211-iFoster Kinship Navigator Collaborative provides an online, self-service resource portal for kinship families that coordinates public and private resources based on the families’ individual needs and preferences. The New York State Kinship Navigator provides an information and referral network for kinship caregivers statewide. In addition to these three states, the webinar featured a representative from the Children’s Bureau who discussed the federal funding available for kinship navigator programs and a representative from the Assisting Special Populations to Improve Readiness and Engagement (ASPIRE) study team who shared information on TANF child-only cases.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance (OFA) Regions IV through VIII hosted the 2018 OFA Tribal Technical Assistance Meeting on July 17-18, 2018 at the Mystic Lake Center in Prior Lake, Minnesota. The meeting provided Tribal TANF and Native Employment Works (NEW) representatives with an opportunity to discuss promising strategies for serving low-income families, share challenges, and gather with peers. Attendees participated in presentations from program administrators and experts, heard from practitioners who serve low-income populations, and learned about technical assistance opportunities.

While only a small percentage of TANF families are involved in the child welfare system, a large portion of child welfare families have received or are eligible for TANF benefits. More than half of all foster children come from families who are eligible for TANF, and most of the families that receive in-home child welfare support services are also on welfare. A growing body of research further demonstrates a strong correlation between poverty and child maltreatment. While poverty may not be a predictor of maltreatment, it is one of many interrelated and complex risk factors that increase the likelihood of child welfare system involvement. In this facilitated webinar, presenters:

• provided a descriptive and demographic overview of the intersections of families, funds, and services between TANF and child welfare systems, and 
• discussed specific initiatives that state or local programs have undertaken to increase collaboration between TANF and child welfare systems through strategic partnerships, data integration, coordinated case management, and kinship provider support systems.

This webinar occurred on April 24, 2018 from 1:00 - 2:30 p.m. EST.

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) 12th Report to Congress from the Office of Family Assistance provides data from the TANF program from fiscal years 2014 and 2015. It presents information on expenditures, caseloads, work participation, characteristics of TANF families, performance measures and other relevant metrics about the program. Data and information is also provided on state-specific provisions and Tribal TANF programs.

Recognizing the valuable role of non-custodial parents (NCPs) in the lives of their children, there are a variety of programs that engage NCPs in employment services designed to increase the financial stability of both the NCP and the custodial family. Research has demonstrated that employment programs for low-income NCPs have far-reaching effects of improving family outcomes. When TANF families receive reliable child support payments, they are more likely to experience improved economic stability and enhanced family well-being due to a more consistent and predictable flow of income each month. In order for NCPs to provide such support, they need steady income through long-term livable wage employment. However, similarly to TANF participants, many NCPs struggle with a variety of employment barriers that are prohibitive to obtaining and maintaining stable employment.

 

An interactive webinar, Improving Economic Stability for TANF Families by Engaging Non-Custodial Parents in Employment Services, was held on September 13, 2017 from 1:00 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. EST. During the webinar, programs that serve NCPs shared how they support NCPs in addressing employment barriers and connecting them to meaningful long-term employment.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program stakeholders and their human services partners increasingly understand the importance of meaningfully engaging noncustodial parents while also holding them accountable for the economic and social growth of their children. A noncustodial parent does not have primary care, custody, or control of the child and may have an obligation to pay child support. It is important to note that many noncustodial parents pay child support and are actively engaged in their children’s lives. However, barriers such as unemployment, underemployment, or incarceration can hinder noncustodial parents from providing for their children, even when many want to do so. Some TANF agencies and their partners have built programs to provide the necessary supports and connections for these individuals to help them achieve self-sufficiency/

The OFA PeerTA Network hosted a webinar on June 9, 2015 at 1:30 PM Eastern, titled Strategies for Building and Maintaining Noncustodial Parent Programs to share strategies for building and sustaining programs to engage and serve noncustodial parents. While previous webinars have focused on strategies to engage noncustodial parents, this webinar focused on the nuts and bolts of program development; it introduced several programs that have supported noncustodial parents for at least 10 years and explored how these sustainable programs were planned and initiated.

At the end of this webinar, participants were able to:

• be aware of three models of TANF programs and their partners creating programs to serve noncustodial parents
• understand how these programs began, including justifying the need for a program serving noncustodial parents, mapping available assets, and identifying a champion; and
• be ready to identify some next steps that they could take within their agencies to start a program that would work for their communities.
Featured presenters:

Ann Marie Winter, Chief Operating Officer, and Margie McGranahan, Employment Services Director, Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services. Established in 1996, Florida’s Noncustodial Parent Employment Program aims to help unemployed or underemployed noncustodial parents establish a pattern of regular child support payments by obtaining and maintaining employment. It is operated through a series of partnerships between organizations such as CareerSource Pinellas and the Gulf Coast Jewish Family and Community Services.

Juan G. Valdez, Parent Support Services Manager, Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services. The Parent Support Services program in Illinois was established in April 1994 to provide noncustodial parents with a way to address their needs and concerns to support their children. TANF dollars are used to provide specific services to qualified noncustodial parents.

Mike Roberts, Human Services Program Specialist for Districts 2, 3 and 6, Alabama Department of Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention. The Alabama Fatherhood Initiative is a joint effort of the Department of Human Resources Family Assistance and Child Support divisions, developed in 2002 to further the welfare reform goal of strengthening families, enhancing child support collections, and addressing other needs of children who are growing up without the involvement of natural fathers in their lives.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families' (ACF) Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted this webinar that highlights the redesigned OFA PeerTA (PeerTA) website. PeerTA facilitates information sharing between states, counties, localities, tribal organizations, and community-based organizations working with TANF participants and families. The PeerTA website functions as the communications vehicle for the PeerTA model by facilitating dialogue at the state, county, local, and tribal level. In this brief webinar, we provided a demo of the key features of the PeerTA website and how the website can support TANF stakeholders in their work with families.