Improving alignment between human services and family needs and goals has been a key area of focus for many state and local human services programs. Family advisory councils offer a unique opportunity to facilitate meaningful engagement with families served by public programs; gain family input on policies and practices that affect them; and ultimately, to help develop programs and policies that serve families successfully and equitably. In a National Association for Welfare Research and Statistics (NAWRS) virtual workshop, panelists will discuss their experiences developing, launching, and sustaining family advisory councils in policy and research. This virtual workshop is being hosted by the Institute for Research on Poverty on August 20, 2024 from 1:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. ET.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) case managers monitor compliance with program rules and can offer participants job search assistance and link them to other services to support employment. Recently, interest has grown among policymakers, practitioners, and researchers in offering employment coaching to TANF participants rather than traditional case management. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief focuses on lessons learned from an evaluation of the implementation of two employment coaching programs that served only families receiving TANF benefits: Family Development and Self-Sufficiency in Iowa and Goal4 It!TM in Colorado.

The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) recently published two important documents related to the implementation of the Temporary Assistance Needy Families (TANF) provisions in the bipartisan Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2023.

The first, published on July 18, 2024, is updated guidance and application submission information for the TANF pilots. As noted by the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary for the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) in his letter, ACF welcomes all state and territory TANF agencies to take advantage of this unprecedented opportunity to innovate by submitting a proposal by the deadline of September 3, 2024.

The second, published on July 19, 2024, is a Program Instruction and technical resource guide designed to support state and territory agencies in successfully understanding, preparing, and submitting the new reporting of work outcomes, as required by Section 304 of the FRA and described in the Interim Final Rule on TANF Work Outcomes Measures.

On July 24, 2024, OFA hosted a webinar to review the new measures and provided technical guidance for preparing and submitting the new reports for the measures. The materials and recording are now available to review.

All updates can be found on OFA’s FRA Implementation site.

The National Association for Welfare Research and Statistics is hosting a webinar on July 24, 2024 at 1:00 p.m. ET to discuss the importance of and strategies for supporting families during pregnancy and the first year of life. Presenters will share how TANF funds are being used to provide cash to families and talk about RxTalks, a no-strings-attached program in Flint, Michigan that is currently providing cash to 700 families.

This Chapin Hall brief describes results from a series of longitudinal analyses using federal TANF administrative data from 28 states. The brief examines patterns and trends in TANF participation, focusing on caseload dynamics, household characteristics, and state-level differences. These analyses are preliminary and were conducted to demonstrate how federal TANF data can be used for longitudinal research that offers important insights into TANF participation over time. This study sheds light on important trends in TANF participation, emphasizing the importance of longitudinal data and the need for ongoing research to better support families in need.

Children and youth involved with the child welfare system are at heightened risk of experiencing human trafficking. Therefore, child welfare agencies must be at the forefront of responding to and preventing human trafficking. This Child Welfare Information Gateway bulletin explores how agencies can support children and youth who have been exploited as well as those who may have risk factors for future exploitation. It provides background information about trafficking, including its scope, relevant legislation and initiatives, and strategies agencies can implement to address the trafficking of children and youth in the United States.

The understanding of how child welfare agencies identify youth who have experienced human trafficking (or are at increased risk for experiencing human trafficking) is somewhat limited. In an effort to address this knowledge gap, the Identifying and Addressing Human Trafficking in Child Welfare Agencies (IAHT) study conducted interviews with state child welfare leaders from 25 states about how their agencies work to identify and serve children and youth who have experienced or are at increased risk of trafficking. This Office of Planning, Research and Evaluation brief describes human trafficking screening tools currently being used by state child welfare agencies that participated in the IAHT study, as well as key themes that arose from interviews with these state child welfare leaders regarding considerations for screening tool selection and protocols.

In recognition of World Day for the Prevention of and Healing from Child Sexual Exploitation, Abuse and Violence, the Administration for Children and Families announced the launch of two new microlearnings developed for frontline professionals who work with children to strengthen screening for human trafficking and safety planning. As children who have already experienced abuse are at disproportionate risk for human trafficking through coercive online and offline schemes, professionals in child welfare and other youth-serving programs are in positions to identify the risks for exploitation early, promote healing, and strengthen resiliency. These are the new offerings:

• Human Trafficking Screening for Child Welfare Professionals
• Safety Planning and Multidisciplinary Response for Child Welfare Professionals

The 30-minute modules are designed to be quick, digestible, and interactive trainings for busy professionals. Their content is intended to support personnel in their everyday work of preventing and responding to human trafficking among children and youth — in foster care and in the broader community.

This National Research Center on Hispanic Children & Families brief draws on a recent survey capturing the perspectives of local Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) program staff in Texas to determine possible program-related barriers to and facilitators of subsidy access for Latino families. This brief discusses Latino families’ experiences as they seek childcare subsidies in Texas through the eyes of the front-line staff who service them.