This tipsheet provides examples of strategies that Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs can use to empower parents to make informed decisions about their family planning through financial capability services. An unintended pregnancy may make it harder for TANF participants to improve their economic well-being and independence. Financial capability services such as financial planning classes and integrating financial planning into relationship education for families can support TANF participants in making stronger financial choices for their families, including whether to have another child.

The Administration for Children and Families (ACF) has launched a new public dashboard that delivers transparent, standardized data on safety and permanency outcomes for children in foster care. The dashboard provides a centralized view of state-level child welfare performance, allowing users to explore key measures, examine trends over time, and compare data across states using information reported to ACF. 

This new tool supports ACF’s broader commitment to transparency, data quality, and performance monitoring. While the dashboard does not include TANF data or introduce new program requirements, it offers valuable context on the service landscape in which multiple ACF-administered programs operate and may inform cross-program coordination and technical assistance discussions.

The Office of Family Assistance partnered with the Children’s Bureau to develop the Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community (FAST-LC), which focused on preventing family involvement in the child welfare system through developing, implementing, and enhancing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)–Child Welfare (CW) partnerships and innovations. FAST-LC was a one-year initiative that involved 10 Tribal and state TANF and CW agencies. 

This tip sheet accompanies a video on Strengthening Connections: Leveraging Existing Networks for Integrated Prevention Services, which highlights lessons from the FAST-LC. These resources feature representatives from the Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, and the California Tribal TANF Partnership, who discuss how they cultivated partnerships with agencies to plan and implement integrated prevention services.

The Office of Family Assistance partnered with the Children’s Bureau to develop the Families Are Stronger Together Learning Community (FAST-LC), which focused on preventing family involvement in the child welfare system through developing, implementing, and enhancing Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)–Child Welfare (CW) partnerships and innovations. FAST-LC was a one-year initiative that involved 10 Tribal and state TANF and CW agencies. 

This video accompanies a reflection guide and tip sheet, Strengthening Connections: Leveraging Existing Networks for Integrated Prevention Services, which highlights lessons from the FAST-LC. The video features representatives from the Chippewa Cree Indians of the Rocky Boy’s Reservation, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, and the California Tribal TANF Partnership, who discuss how they cultivated partnerships with agencies to plan and implement integrated prevention services.

Alex J. Adams, Assistant Secretary for Family Support at the Administration for Children and Families, explains in this City Journal article that a major issue in foster care is a shortage of licensed foster homes relative to the number of children entering care. This shortage leads to children being placed in emergency settings, group facilities, or temporary housing without good long-term fits.

Many families who want to foster face burdens: complicated paperwork, trainings, court involvement, and costs. Streamlining licensing would increase the pool of available foster homes. And by licensing broadly and matching carefully, the system can have “homes waiting for children, not children waiting for homes.”

This Center on Budget and Policy Priorities tool includes a compilation of state-by-state eligibility, operations, and outcome data across all 50 states and D.C. on Medicaid, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). It pulls data from a variety of reports on program eligibility criteria, waivers, and other metrics.

In this 2021–2026 Strategic Plan for Adult Education and Literacy, the Texas Workforce Commission outlines the guiding principles and vision for adult education and literacy over the five years with a focus on the Texas workforce customer’s experience.

Literacy provides individuals with the confidence to pursue their goals, support their families, and to achieve success and well-being in work and in life. This Adult Literacy and Learning Impact Network study was designed to empower local programs with evidence-based strategies to: 1) more effectively reach and support adults with low literacy, and 2) communicate the value of their work to funders for greater investment and community-level impact.

The need for a tech-savvy, well-prepared workforce continues to rise. This MDRC resource discusses the development of the partnership between NPower and Urban Alliance, which are two national nonprofits working to deliver digital literacy and IT training to high school students. This resource offers lessons for improving cross-organizational partnerships that support youth career pathways. It also describes the two programs developed during the partnership, discusses some of the challenges that the two organizations encountered during the development and implementation of the programs and how they addressed those challenges, and provides additional considerations for future partnerships.

Without enough diapers, children are at risk of serious health problems like rashes and infections, and parents may miss work or school, undermining family stability and economic mobility. Federal programs that help families purchase food and nutrition supports and provide cash assistance in times of need, like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), do not cover diapers, requiring parents to pay high out-of-pocket prices. This Urban Institute factsheet sheds light on the widespread and often hidden crisis of diaper insecurity, its impact on family well-being, and the gaps in public support.