Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) supports families as they work toward financial independence, and the policies used to measure state performance play an important role in how the program is administered. This issue brief, co-written by Office of Family Assistance Director David Swegle and Assistant Secretary of Administration for Children and Families Alex Adams, examines the TANF Caseload Reduction Credit and how it affects state work participation requirements. As the second in a series on TANF work requirements, it explains how the credit is calculated and why it was created, identifies its limitations, and examines recent legislative attempts to strengthen work requirements. TANF leaders and administrators can use this resource to better understand the relationship between caseload trends, accountability, and work participation requirements, helping them interpret program data and engage in informed policy discussions about the impact of workarounds on TANF participants’ financial independence.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is creating new opportunities for human services, but integrating lived experience into AI design is essential for ensuring these systems are designed with and for the communities they serve. Wonderschool will host a webinar on July 20, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. ET to explore how public welfare programs like Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) can responsibly incorporate AI while keeping the experiences and needs of families at the center of decision-making. For TANF practitioners, this webinar will offer valuable insights into using AI to improve customer service, streamline administrative tasks, and design more responsive programs without losing the human connection on which families rely.

The Office of Human Services and Emergency Preparedness and Response, in partnership with The Council of State Governments, will host a webinar on July 16, 2026, from 2:00-3:00 P.M. ET to examine how the Social Work Licensure Compact enhances disaster preparedness, response, and recovery by increasing workforce mobility and strengthening human services delivery. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners and social workers can play a vital role in disaster relief and emergency preparedness, and multistate licensure can help ensure affected communities receive timely, coordinated support during emergencies. This webinar is open to the public and is free.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) non-assistance funds flow through workforce boards, employment program providers, and community partners—but data about service delivery often lives in separate systems. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has identified this as a core program integrity challenge: without cross-agency data infrastructure, TANF agencies struggle to assess provider performance, identify service gaps, and connect spending to participant outcomes.

As a result, the Office of Family Assistance’s State and Tribal Technical Assistance and Resources (STAR) team developed the TANF Program Integrity Office Hours as a series of topical peer learning sessions where TANF agencies can share what's working, explore real challenges, and walk away with practical strategies they can use to address the challenge identified by GAO.

This recording includes key takeaways from the June session, highlights from peer discussions, and an overview of how to use and navigate the companion resource, which can help TANF programs assess and strengthen their own provider contracts and accountability structures.

In April 2026, the Office of Family Assistance launched the TANF Program Integrity Office Hours: a series of topical peer learning sessions where state agencies can share what's working, explore real challenges, and walk away with practical strategies they can use. This webpage hosts session recordings with companion tools, lessons learned, and helpful resources.

Accurate reporting is essential for understanding program performance and meeting federal reporting requirements. This Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Feedback Report from the TANF Data Portal Knowledge Center explains how to use three key feedback reports to review the completeness and accuracy of program data and better understand how a Tribe's Work Participation Rate is calculated. Tribal TANF staff can use these reports to identify missing or inconsistent data, pinpoint reporting trends throughout the year, and address issues that may affect participation rate calculations. By helping Tribal TANF programs strengthen data quality and make informed improvements, this guide supports more accurate reporting and stronger program management.

Families receiving Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) often rely on housing assistance as part of their overall support system. This Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) report examines work requirement policies in HUD-funded assisted housing programs and explores how those requirements are implemented across different housing settings.

For TANF practitioners, the report provides useful context for understanding the housing-related policies that may affect the families they serve. By learning how housing work requirements interact with employment expectations in other programs, TANF staff can better coordinate services, reduce participant confusion, and help families successfully navigate multiple systems while working toward economic stability.

Helping families achieve self-sufficiency often requires coordinated support across multiple programs and service systems. This Department of Housing and Urban Development guidebook provides practical strategies for designing, managing, and strengthening Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) programs, including participant engagement, case management, goal setting, and partnership development.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) administrators and frontline staff can use this resource to identify approaches that support long-term success for participants. This guidebook offers ideas for strengthening case management practices, improving participant retention, and building stronger connections between employment, education, housing, and other services. Programs looking to enhance family-centered approaches may find valuable lessons that can be adapted to their own work.

Many families receiving housing assistance are working toward the same goals that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs support: stable employment, increased earnings, and long-term financial independence. The Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS) Program helps participants build assets as their income grows, creating opportunities to save money while working toward personal and professional goals.

For TANF practitioners, this Department of Housing and Urban Development webpage highlights a valuable partner program that can help families move beyond immediate assistance and build lasting economic stability. TANF staff can use it to identify referral opportunities, strengthen partnerships with housing agencies, and connect participants to supports that encourage employment, savings, and self-sufficiency.

Keeping up with policy updates and guidance can be challenging for programs that work across multiple benefit systems. The Food and Nutrition Administration’s collection of Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) work requirement policy resources brings together federal guidance, policy memoranda, and related materials that help explain how work requirements are implemented and administered.

For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies, this collection can serve as a valuable reference when training staff, responding to participant questions, and coordinating services with SNAP partners. By staying informed about SNAP policies, TANF practitioners can better support families receiving multiple forms of assistance and help ensure participants have access to the information they need to successfully meet program requirements.