This Urban Institute brief focuses on “child-only” cases—situations where children receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits without a parent in the assistance unit, often because they are living with relatives or other caregivers. These cases make up a significant share of TANF caseloads and are often treated the same as traditional households, despite having very different needs. The brief helps TANF practitioners better understand who these families are and where current supports may fall short. It points to gaps in services for both children and their caregivers and offers insight into how programs can more effectively identify and respond to these cases. For TANF staff, this means being better equipped to tailor services, strengthen caregiver support, and ensure children in nontraditional living arrangements are not overlooked.

Written by Administration for Children and Families Assistant Secretary Alex Adams and drawing on reforms implemented in Idaho, this report explores how child welfare systems can better support children by strengthening families and reducing unnecessary separation. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners, the report reinforces an important reality: economic hardship is often closely connected to family instability. Families facing challenges related to employment, housing, or access to supportive services may also be at greater risk of child welfare involvement.

The report encourages TANF staff to think about how economic supports, employment services, and family-focused case management can strengthen child and family well-being. It also highlights the value of prevention-focused approaches and stronger collaboration across systems to help families remain safely together. For agencies working to advance family stability initiatives, the report offers practical ideas and perspectives that can inform planning, partnerships, and cross-system coordination.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announced a new $7 million innovation challenge aimed at helping more children and youth find safe, stable, and permanent homes. The “A Home for Every Child Innovation Challenge” will reward child welfare agencies that achieve the highest foster home-to-child ratios, as well as those demonstrating the greatest improvement over a one-year period beginning in October 2026. These performance-based bonuses reflect ACF’s broader goal of achieving a 1:1 ratio of foster homes to children in foster care nationwide. 

Under the challenge, the state with the highest foster home-to-child ratio will receive $3 million, while the second-place state will receive $2 million. Two additional states showing the most improvement will each receive $1 million. Registration for the challenge opens May 14, 2026, and closes June 30, 2026. The competition period will run from October 1, 2026, through September 30, 2027, with winners expected to be announced in November 2027. 

To participate, child welfare jurisdictions must be part of ACF’s “A Home for Every Child” initiative and formally opt into the new Program Improvement Plan pilot announced through Child and Family Services Review Technical Bulletin #14. 

For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, this challenge highlights the importance of strengthening family stability before crises escalate. TANF agencies can use this opportunity to explore partnerships and innovative approaches that connect economic mobility, workforce services, and child well-being efforts.

This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network tipsheet focuses on how Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs can support children living with relatives or caregivers who are not receiving full family benefits. It fills a key gap for kinship families who often step in without financial preparation. TANF practitioners can use these strategies to design or improve child-only grants, ensuring support reaches the child without creating unnecessary barriers for caregivers. It also helps staff think through policy and implementation choices that better reflect the realities of kinship care.

The National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) provides data on outcomes for youth transitioning out of foster care, including education, employment, and housing. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners, this is a practical tool for understanding where youth are struggling and what supports are working. TANF staff can use this data to refine programs, target services, and make the case for specific supports like employment or life skills programming. It helps shift practice from reactive to data informed and provides insight into achieving long-term outcomes.

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.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) announced a new childcare reform package aimed at making childcare more affordable, expanding access for families, and increasing parental choice. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, this announcement is especially important because childcare challenges often affect whether parents can participate in work, education, or training activities consistently. The announcement helps TANF practitioners understand emerging federal priorities and how childcare policy may continue to evolve to better support working families.

This ACF resource can also help TANF practitioners identify opportunities to strengthen coordination between TANF and childcare systems while reducing barriers that prevent parents from maintaining employment. The reforms emphasize flexibility and accessibility, which may be particularly valuable for families with non-traditional work schedules or limited local childcare options. By staying informed about these changes, TANF staff can better connect families to supports that promote stability and long-term economic mobility.

This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network tipsheet highlights how partnerships between child welfare agencies, aging agencies, and community organizations can strengthen support for grandparents and relatives raising children. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs working with kinship caregivers, this tipsheet helps practitioners identify opportunities to coordinate services so that families will not have to navigate multiple systems on their own. The resource also offers practical ideas for outreach and collaboration that can help TANF agencies better engage kinship families, reduce service gaps, and connect caregivers to support that improve stability for both children and the adults caring for them.