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.

On Thursday, January 15, 2015, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) hosted this webinar focusing on building partnerships between TANF and Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) systems to improve outcomes for TANF recipients. The new WIOA law establishes TANF as a required one-stop partner and provides the option for states to submit a combined workforce development plan that includes TANF. In this webinar, a panel of experts and officials from states and local areas shared their experiences with TANF/WIA collaboration. 

On Wednesday, May 7, 2014, the Office of Family Assistance's Peer TA Network, along with partners from the U.S. Departments of Labor, and Housing and Urban Development, hosted the Investing in Youth and the Community: Summer Youth Employment Programs Webinar. This Webinar explored emerging initiatives, partnerships, and strategies for implementing summer youth employment programs. The Webinar highlighted federal, state, private, and public services available to engage youth in summer employment, while also providing TANF-serving organizations and other stakeholders with the opportunity to learn how to engage various partners in support of summer youth employment activities. Presenters included representatives from Chapin Hall at the University of Chicago, Brandeis University's Center for Youth and Communities, and the Denver Public Housing Authority's Youth Employment Academy.

As a followup to this presentation, OFA created a series of Summer Youth Employment Program Profiles – providing more in-depth information on the background, program model, lessons learned, outcomes, and successes for a number of programs engaging youth in summer employment. These profiles highlight the activities of the City of Richmond, Department of Employment and Training's YouthWORKS Division; the City of Buffalo, Buffalo Employment and Training Center; and the Denver Housing Authority’s Youth Employment Academy.

The Administration for Children and Families' Office of Family Assistance (OFA), Division of Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Management and the Office of Child Support Enforcement hosted a Webinar entitled "Partnering for Children: Collaboration Between Tribal TANF and Tribal Child Support." This Webinar provided the goals and objectives of the Tribal TANF and Tribal Child Support program, including conditions of eligibility for both programs. During this Webinar, speakers identified the differences between State and tribally administered TANF and child support programs. Webinar participants also had an opportunity to hear about collaborative approaches from representatives from Tribal TANF and Tribal Child Support programs at the Port Gamble S'Klallam Tribe and the Winnebago Tribe of Nebraska.

The Administration for Children and Families' Office of Family Assistance (OFA), Division of Tribal TANF Management hosted a Webinar, "Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Webinar." This Webinar was the first of a two-part series, and provided a basic overview of the Tribal TANF program, including factors for a Tribe to consider when deciding if it wants to operate a TANF program and the process of implementing a Tribal TANF program. This Webinar was targeted at Tribes or Tribal staff new to the Tribal TANF program and Tribes interested in pursuing and administering a Tribal TANF program. The information was presented jointly by OFA Central and Regional Office staff, and included a question and answer session.

The Office of Family Assistance hosted the "Broadening the Scope of Work Activities: Using Cultural Activities in Tribal Communities" Webinar to provide an opportunity for participants to hear from Tribal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs that count cultural activities as work activities to meet their work participation rates. Information on program models, designs, and implementation, along with populations served, partnerships, and challenges to service delivery were shared. A representative from OFA's Division of Tribal TANF Management provided an overview of allowable work activities and the unique provisions of Tribal TANF programs.

<p>Authorized by the Affordable Care Act, the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program from the Administration for Children and Families provides education and training to TANF recipients and other low-income individuals for occupations in the health care field. The <a href="http://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/programs/hpog/">HPOG Web site</a> serves as a repository of important grant-related information and a forum for grantee interaction. Among other features, the Web site enables you to: locate contact information for all HPOG grantees in the <a href="http://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/hpog/findhpogprograms">Grantee Directory</a>; learn about what other HPOG programs are doing; and find helpful technical assistance toolkits, conference presentations, administrative forms, and other relevant documents in the <a href="http://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/resource-library/search?area%5b2400%5d=2400">Resources Section</a>.</p>

The Region IX Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance convened a meeting for the Region IX Tribal TANF grantees in California and Nevada from September 26-27, 2011. The meeting, the second of two, provided TANF directors and administrators with an open forum for discussing critical issues impacting their TANF participants and an opportunity to network both amongst themselves and with Region IX leadership. The meeting brought together TANF programs to discuss and share information on a number of topics. Region IX Tribal TANF grantees shared lessons learned and gathered strategies that can improve their own programs’ ability to identify and address multiple barriers, develop career pathways, create subsidized employment and asset building opportunities for participants, and effectively manage fiscal requirements. Region IX Tribal TANF programs had the opportunity to discuss relevant topics with experts in the field that provided insight, ideas, and strategies for enhancing their own programs. In addition, the meeting gave Tribal TANF participants an opportunity to meet with Region IX staff to discuss ongoing questions regarding Tribal TANF in California and Nevada.