Many families do not enter the child welfare system all at once; they arrive there after a series of crises that no one stepped in to address early enough. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs can be a part of that early intervention, providing income support, employment services, and family stability before situations escalate.

The Administration for Children and Families has now added new evidence-based interventions to the Title IV-E Prevention Services Clearinghouse, a federal list of proven programs states can fund to keep families together and reduce unnecessary foster care entries. For TANF practitioners, this resource signals where federal child welfare investment is heading and opens opportunities to align TANF-funded services with approved prevention strategies. If your agency is already providing parenting support, substance use navigation, or family counseling, these new interventions may mean new pathways to coordinate funding and recognition for that work.

Many children in rural communities are being raised by grandparents or other relatives, yet these caregivers often face unique challenges accessing services and support. This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network guide highlights strategies for reaching and engaging kinship and grandfamilies, helping practitioners better understand the barriers these families may encounter. For Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs, the resource offers practical ideas for connecting families to benefits, strengthening family stability, and ensuring caregivers know where to turn for assistance. It can help TANF staff identify gaps in outreach and develop approaches that better meet the needs of rural families.

The Ohio Kinship and Adoption Navigator (OhioKAN) Program Manual offers a practical example of how coordinated family support services can be organized to better meet the needs of children and caregivers. Developed by Ohio’s Department of Children and Youth, the manual gives Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) practitioners a useful look at how programs can streamline referrals, improve communication across partners, and connect families to services more efficiently. For TANF agencies working to strengthen case management or build stronger community partnerships to support children and caregivers, this resource provides real-world guidance on creating systems that are easier for families to navigate and easier for staff to coordinate.

This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network guide helps ground your work in the importance of keeping children connected to family, culture, and community, an approach that closely aligns with the goals of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). The guide explains how policies like the Indian Child Welfare Act support relative caregiving and why that matters for long-term stability. For Tribal TANF programs or TANF programs working with Tribal families, this guide also provides understanding on how to better support kinship caregivers who may not fit neatly into traditional program models. It offers context you can use to design more responsive services, strengthen family-centered approaches, and ensure that benefits and supports reflect the realities of the families you serve.

Many Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) participants are balancing care for both children and aging relatives, creating unique financial and emotional pressures. This Grandfamilies & Kinship Support Network tipsheet brings attention to that “sandwich generation” and the strain they experience. It helps TANF practitioners recognize a group that may otherwise be overlooked in program design. By understanding these competing responsibilities, staff can better tailor work requirements, referrals, and supportive services, making programs more realistic and responsive to participants’ daily lives.

Kinship care, which is when relatives step in to raise children, often occurs in families served by Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs. It can be difficult for these families to navigate available supports. This Generations United video breaks down how Kinship Navigator programs connect caregivers to resources like financial assistance, legal help, and social services such as TANF. For TANF practitioners, it addresses the gap between identifying kin caregivers and supporting them. It can be used as a quick learning tool for staff or even shared directly with clients to help them understand where to turn for support.

This resource, released by Casey Family Programs, examines how child protection agencies can work alongside faith-based and community-based organizations to better meet the needs of families involved in or at risk of involvement with the child welfare system. It highlights how these partnerships can expand the reach of trusted, community-rooted supports that families often turn to first—such as mentoring, material assistance, emotional support, and informal navigation help.

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs can be part of this broader support ecosystem where child welfare agencies and community partners are already engaging families. TANF-funded services—such as cash assistance, work supports, child care assistance, and case management—can connect more intentionally with faith-based and community organizations that are addressing immediate, practical needs like food security, housing stability, and family support. This alignment helps ensure families are not moving between disconnected services, but instead receiving complementary supports that reinforce stability and self-sufficiency goals. Strengthening these connections can reduce fragmentation across systems and improve continuity of care for families navigating multiple challenges at once.

This Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resource provides evidence-based strategies and tools to help prevent child abuse and neglect, including the Prevention Resource for Action. The resource highlights practical approaches that strengthen families, reduce risk factors, and promote safe, stable environments for children.

For TANF programs, these strategies align with efforts to support families through economic assistance and work-focused services that help reduce stressors impacting caregiving. Programs can use this resource to inform service delivery, strengthen coordination with public health, child welfare, and community partners, and reinforce approaches that support family stability and continuity.

This guide from the Child Welfare Information Gateway provides a protective factors framework along with practical strategies for strengthening families. TANF programs can use this resource to design prevention-focused services that build on family strengths while coordinating with child welfare and behavioral health partners. By integrating protective factors into program design, TANF agencies can support resilience, reduce risk, and promote long-term family stability.

This resource from the Children’s Safety Network highlights data, strategies, and cross-sector approaches to preventing child abuse and neglect. It offers practical insight into how coordinated efforts across systems can better support families and reduce risk factors early.

TANF programs can use this guide to strengthen prevention-focused services by aligning with child welfare, public health, and community partners. By using data and evidence-informed strategies, programs can improve coordination, target supports more effectively, and reinforce stable, family-based environments.