Benefit cliffs can create difficult choices for families as earnings increase and public assistance begins to phase out. The American Public Human Services Association will host a webinar on June 22, 2026 at 1:00 p.m. ET to explore strategies for helping families navigate these transitions while continuing to build financial stability. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, the discussion will provide valuable perspectives on how policies, program design, and service delivery can support economic mobility without creating unintended barriers. TANF practitioners can use the information to better understand participant experiences and identify approaches that help families move forward with confidence.

The NEW Annual Program Report helps Tribal programs document employment and training activities, participant outcomes, and the services being provided to Native individuals and families. The Office of Family Assistance developed and published this fillable program report form with instructions for NEW grant recipients. For Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and NEW practitioners, this resource provides useful guidance on how to successfully complete the form, as well as track program impact, strengthen reporting practices, and better understand how workforce services are supporting participants on pathways toward employment and economic stability. Programs can also use the report to identify trends, strengthen partnerships, and support planning efforts that reflect the needs and priorities of Tribal communities.

The Office of Family Assistance developed and provided these reporting instructions, designed to help Tribal TANF programs accurately complete required financial reporting. While financial reporting guidance can often feel overwhelming, these instructions break down what information needs to be reported and how Tribal TANF programs can stay aligned with federal requirements.

For Tribal TANF administrators and financial staff, the instructions help reduce confusion around reporting expectations and support stronger program management. Accurate reporting is essential for demonstrating how TANF funds are being used to support families and communities. Tribal TANF programs can use this resource to strengthen internal processes, train staff, and improve consistency across reporting activities. It also serves as a helpful reference for newer staff members who may be unfamiliar with Tribal TANF financial reporting requirements.

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 May session, highlights from peer discussions, and an overview of how to use and navigate the companion resource, which can help TANF programs identify where to begin when building or strengthening cross-agency data partnerships to support program integrity efforts.

GovLoop developed this webinar and companion product to examine how agencies can simplify and modernize forms and document processes to improve the customer experience. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, complicated paperwork and outdated systems can create barriers for both families and staff. Both resources outline practical ways agencies can reduce administrative burden, improve accessibility, and make it easier for clients to complete applications and submit information. TANF practitioners and program leaders can use these ideas to support more efficient service delivery, reduce delays, and create processes that are easier for families to navigate.

Work requirements are a central part of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), but the way they are defined and measured can be difficult to translate into everyday program decisions. This report breaks down how the federal work participation standard works in practice and how states meet it, helping TANF staff connect policy rules to real program operations.

A key detail is that child recipients are not considered work-eligible, meaning families where only children receive TANF assistance—or child-only cases—are excluded from work participation rate calculations. These cases can include situations where grandparents or other relatives are caring for children and receiving assistance on their behalf. Because of this distinction, programs are not evaluated on their engagement of these families in the same way as adult-recipient cases, which can significantly affect reported participation rates.

For TANF practitioners, this resource clarifies where compliance requirements apply and where they do not. It can help TANF programs design work activities that meet federal expectations while still reflecting the realities of the families being served. It can also support more informed program design decisions that balance accountability metrics with meaningful employment and family support strategies.

WorkforceGPS will host a free webinar on May 28, 2026 at 3:00 p.m. ET focused on how agencies can improve coordination through integrated systems and cross-program collaboration. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners, this is especially relevant because families often interact with multiple systems at the same time, including workforce, childcare, child welfare, education, and housing programs. When these systems are not aligned, families may encounter duplicated paperwork, service gaps, or confusion about where to access support.

The webinar will explore how integrated approaches can better align workforce, education, and human services, including TANF programs, by moving from strategy into implementation. It will highlight how data sharing can improve coordination, strengthen efficiency, and support better outcomes, as well as how labor market analysis can inform joint planning and decision-making across systems. Drawing on state examples, the session will share implementation approaches, lessons learned, and real-world impacts, along with practical considerations for putting integration into practice and emerging priorities for strengthening coordinated service delivery.

Engaging families in programs and services is often one of the biggest challenges Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) agencies face. This MDRC resource shares practical lessons from the Building Evidence on Employment Strategies (BEES) Project on how organizations successfully recruited and connected with participants. For TANF practitioners, the strategies are especially relevant for improving outreach, increasing participation, and building trust with families who may be hesitant to engage with services.

The resource focuses on real-world approaches that help programs communicate more clearly, reduce barriers to participation, and better meet families where they are. TANF agencies can use these lessons to strengthen enrollment efforts, improve client retention, and rethink how they connect families to employment, education, and supportive services. The practical examples make this a useful tool for frontline staff, supervisors, and program planners alike.

As part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, all states are required to submit the Secondary School Diploma or its Recognized Equivalent Attainment Rate report annually, with the first report due on November 14, 2027. This outcome measure is intended to help federal and state policymakers to better understand the effectiveness of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families programs in promoting successful education credential attainment. States have some flexibility in determining the data sources used to create this report. For states planning to collect administrative records, this document is both a roadmap and a checklist that assists you with creating the report and includes additional resources. We suggest that you work through the steps in this document with your team.

In December 2025, the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) sent letters to 39 governors, calling for immediate action to protect vulnerable foster youth in their states. The letters highlighted the pressing issue of state child welfare agencies diverting foster youths’ earned Social Security survivor benefits. These agencies were intercepting federal benefits, such as Social Security survivor benefits earned through a deceased parent’s lifetime contributions, that were intended for a child in foster care. The agencies then used these funds to reimburse their own costs.

ACF has notified the governors who allowed this practice and is working with states to end it. The goal is to ensure these earned benefits are no longer taken from foster youth and are instead preserved to support them as they transition out of state care.