Needy Families Research Articles

Strengthening work requirements? Forecasting impacts of reforming cash assistance rules

AbstractWork requirements are perhaps the most controversial aspect of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, America's sole federal cash assistance program for low‐income families with children. In 2025, for the first time in nearly 20 years, the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (FRA) will implement policy changes intended to strengthen states’ work requirements. However, researchers’ and policymakers’ understanding of how FRA will impact states’ compliance with federal requirements is hampered by a lack of research and publicly available data. We tie information from reports submitted to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that we collected to administrative caseload and expenditure data to document several strategies that states currently use to comply with federal work requirements. We estimate that FRA will increase the stringency of work requirements in 23 states and that five states will begin to fall short of requirements. We note that several compliance strategies available to these states do not encourage work. We discuss changes to states’ work requirements that would promote better long‐term economic and labor market outcomes for TANF recipients.

The Significance of Federal Social Transfers in the US: Evolution of Approaches

The paper focuses on federal transfers, their dynamics, structure and their role for the American households amid financial-economic and geopolitical challenges. It contributes to a debate on different aspects of social transfers – based both on the principles of insurance and welfare. Particularly important for the aged low-income groups, the Social Security Program faces financing problems in the coming years due to payments exceeding payroll taxes. The paper also points out the transformation of approaches to welfare programs for lowincome Americans during the first three years of Trump’s presidency, aimed at expanding individual possibilities to reduce their dependence on government safety-net programs and achieve self-sufficiency. After more than two years of extraordinary budget spending to provide relief to Americans during the pandemic and its consequences, the budget proposals from the Biden administration seem impressive, reflecting a wide range of needs for continuing financing of social programs for needy families, medical assistance, education, etc., with special attention to the economic situation. Although Biden’s proposed budget is expected to reduce the deficit, it still faces fiscal challenges; according to Congressional Budget Office projections, both the budget deficit and the public debt remain huge.

Temporary Aid for Needy Families as family policy for first time mothers

AbstractObjectiveThis brief report takes a life course approach to describe how first‐time mothers with low incomes participate in Temporary Aid for Needy Families (TANF) before and after birth.BackgroundBy providing cash assistance to low‐income mothers with children, TANF functions as a major family policy.MethodPopulation data from a cohort of all births in Oregon across 2016–2017 are linked to TANF participation and employment histories. Centering on the birth event, the study window spanned 24 months before and after the first birth. Multivariate models are used to predict TANF participation around birth. A combination of sequence and cluster analyses illuminate within‐group patterns.ResultsAround one‐quarter of low‐income mothers relied on TANF at any time in the two‐year study window with about 70% of those participating in TANF during the 6 months after birth. The most common trajectory pattern (41%) was one of TANF enrollment around birth with high likelihood of exit by 6 months following birth, suggesting TANF may function as a short‐term substitute for paid work, that is, paid leave. Other trajectories were characterized by timing of enrollment (prenatal or postnatal) and duration of participation. Clusters with longer participation were comprised of mothers who were young, single, and with less labor market attachment.ConclusionsThe majority of low‐income single mothers who rely on TANF around birth participate in short spells and exit the program within 1 year. As more states implement paid family leave policies, low‐income mothers who previously enrolled in TANF may opt for paid leave.

The social determinants of resilience: A conceptual framework to integrate psychological and policy research.

The psychological study of resilience has increasingly underscored the need for children and families to access material and psychological resources to positively adapt to significant stress. Redistributive policies-policies that downwardly reallocate society's social and economic resources-can offer economically disadvantaged families sustained access to these resources and mitigate the harmful impacts of adversity. This conceptual article builds upon and integrates insights from psychological and policy research to develop a unifying multilevel resilience framework, which we call the Social Determinants of Resilience. We examine four U.S. redistributive policies that have been extensively studied for their effects on child and family outcomes as case studies: (1) Medicaid expansion; (2) the Earned Income Tax Credit; (3) childcare subsidies; and (4) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. Informed by a scoping review of each policy, we propose that redistributive policies promote children's resilience through three mechanisms by (1) increasing families' resource and service access; (2) reducing family stress; and (3) enhancing adaptive cognitions, emotions, behaviors, and interpersonal processes that protect against the development of psychopathology and promote positive mental health outcomes. Highlighting current evidence for these resilience mechanisms as well as gaps in knowledge, we conclude by setting a multidisciplinary research agenda that can leverage this conceptual framework to advance the science on how redistributive policies enable children and families to thrive. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved).

TANF Leavers and Debt: An Exploratory Study From Georgia

This exploratory study measured the types and amounts of debt experienced by families in Georgia that exited Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) between 2009 and 2015. The research employed a cross-sectional, descriptive, survey research design. A sample of 87 participants was interviewed individually and self-reported their levels of consumer debt. The median level of debt across the entire sample was $7,000. The largest category of debt was student loan debt; 51% of the sample owed an average of $23,276 (median $12,771) in student loan debt. The next most frequent forms of debt were medical (median $2,000), credit card (median $950), and utility (median $261). Considering only 41% of respondents were employed full-time in the formal economy earning an average hourly wage of $12.18, this level of consumer debt suggests a majority of this sample of TANF leavers is debt stressed. These findings highlight the importance of future studies with larger samples exploring the various impacts of debt on low-income families.

I paid into it with every paycheck I earned: How benefit type and beneficiary contributions shape attitudes about increasing or decreasing administrative burdens for social protections

AbstractAdministrative burdens are an important policy tool that has received growing scholarly attention. Burdens are consequential and serve as a contributor to incomplete program take‐up. However, our knowledge is limited on how program characteristics affect public attitudes toward burden‐increasing or decreasing policies. Based on our knowledge of public attitudes toward the welfare state, two such characteristics, whether benefits are “earned” and whether they come in the form of in‐kind services or cash payments, may also affect perceptions of administrative burdens. Using a nationally representative survey (N = 2904), we tested support for two administrative burdens (in‐person interviews and requirements for government‐issued documents) and two administrative easings (presumptive eligibility and express lane eligibility) for Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) in the United States. In general, we found no strong and consistent differences along both dimensions. However, Republicans, Conservatives, and those high in racial resentment consistently favored increasing burdens and opposed decreasing burdens with the opposite effect for Democrats, Liberals, and those low in racial resentment. Americans supported administrative burdens in the form of documentation requirements across all programs. However, they were open to burden decreases.

Prevailing Organizational Culture from the Perspective of the Quran and the Sunnah

The reality of the occupation and the repeated offensives the Palestinian people lived through every day across Palestine doubled the number of orphans. The resulting political and institutional need for the effective management of institutions that care for orphans in various governorates increased. This study aimed to identify the most important features of organizational behavior derived from the Holy Qur’an and the Sunnah of the Prophet, according to which work is carried out in the Dora Islamic Society for Orphan Care. The research problem was chosen to identify the main challenges facing this charity in managing its operations and to explore the strategies it uses to overcome these challenges. The study used the descriptive approach to study the descriptive case, which is the charity. The study used the interview tool, so the questions and topics that were discussed were developed, and answers to their questions were obtained with the charity’s team through interviews. The work of the charity stems strongly from the legal foundation of the disposal of (clean) money for the benefit of orphan care. The charity has become a reference for hundreds of needy families and a point of trust for them. The results indicated that the prevailing organizational behavior in the charity is linked to the Sharia rulings, and each procedure is tried according to its legislative principles. The team was genuine and reflective of strong trust internally, as well as a strong relationship between the servant leader style of the CEO and the rest of the team members.

Penanganan Stunting Melalui Program Infak Telur di Kelurahan Tegalrejo

This study examines the implementation of the Infak Telur program in Tegalrejo Village to address stunting issues. The program involves egg donations from the community, which are then distributed to needy families, especially those with young children. This study employs a descriptive qualitative method with data collection techniques including observation, interviews, and documentation. The sources of data used by the researcher are primary and secondary data. The findings indicate that the program successfully increased protein and nutritional intake among children and received positive responses from the community and GenRe youth. Active community participation in the planning, implementation, and monitoring of the program was key to its success. The study suggests the need for ongoing support and coordination among relevant stakeholders to enhance the program's long-term effectiveness.

State temporary assistance for needy families policies and high school diploma or equivalent attainment among mothers following a nonmarital birth: An event history analysis

AbstractThis study examines high school diploma or equivalent (HS/E) attainment by mothers who had a nonmarital birth (“unmarried mothers”) and the associations between state‐level Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) policies and their postnatal HS/E attainment. Using an analytic sample of 1154 unmarried mothers without HS/E from the restricted‐use Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study, we tracked postnatal HS/E attainment patterns for 15 years, and conducted discrete‐time event history analysis with mixed effects to test the relationships between states' TANF policies and postnatal HS/E attainment. Only 35.1% of the sample attained HS/E after childbirth, while nearly half of mothers who attained HS/E were not able to do so within 3 years of childbirth. A $100 higher maximum monthly benefit amount is associated with 86.1% higher odds of postnatal HS/E attainment, indicating the need to consider increasing TANF benefit amounts as a means to promote educational attainment among unmarried mothers with educational disadvantages.

"There's room to do more": a mixed-methods study of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) diversion program and intimate partner violence in Georgia.

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a risk factor for homicides and suicides. As poverty is both a predictor and a consequence of IPV, interventions that alleviate poverty-related stressors could mitigate IPV-related harms. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a monthly cash assistance program, is one such potential intervention. In the state of Georgia, the TANF diversion program, which provides a non-recurrent lump-sum payment to deter individuals from monthly TANF benefits, is an understudied component of TANF that may influence the effectiveness of state TANF programs in supporting IPV survivors. This study quantifies and qualifies the role of Georgia's TANF diversion program in shaping IPV-related mortality. This study relies on a mixed-methods sequential explanatory design. Using data from the Georgia Violent Death Reporting System (GA-VDRS), an interrupted time series analysis was conducted to estimate the effect of TANF diversion on IPV-related homicides and suicides. Semi-structured interviews were then administered with TANF policy experts and advocates, welfare caseworkers, and benefit recipients (n = 20) to contextualize the quantitative findings. The interrupted time series analysis revealed three fewer IPV-related deaths per month after implementing TANF diversion, compared to pre-diversion forecasts (coefficient = -3.003, 95%CI [-5.474, -0.532]). However, the qualitative interviews illustrated three themes regarding TANF diversion: (1) it is a "band-aid" solution to the access barriers associated with TANF, (2) it provides short-term relief to recipients making hard choices, and (3) its limitations reveal avenues for policy change. While diversion has the potential to reduce deaths from IPV, it may be an insufficient means of mitigating the poverty-related contributors to IPV harms. Its limitations unveil the need for improved programs to better support IPV survivors.

Assessing Utilization and Accessibility of Public Cash Assistance Benefits among Postsecondary Students

Low-income students struggle with resources while trying to achieve future financial stability. As colleges explore ways to support students, one solution is integration with public benefits. This study focuses on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), a program that offers cash assistance to low-income adults with children. Statistical analysis of New Jersey data on applications from students (N = 1,064) is complemented by interviews with higher education experts (N = 6). Findings indicate that knowledge about the program is lacking. Among students who do apply, many either withdraw their application or do not complete the requirements. Findings offer recommendations to improve access for students.

Racialized feedback and social welfare receipt: disentangling duration and dollar amount mechanisms on policy feedback effects

ABSTRACT This paper examines how the resources associated with the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, and the Unemployment Insurance program affect political participation. The research on policy feedback on mass publics has produce greater results relative to research on feedback and political participation. However, prior research has not disaggregated resource feedback effects thoroughly enough to decipher whether the monetary resources provided by a social welfare program are independent of the effects of the duration of receipt nor have they disaggregated the effects by race to estimate the racialized feedback effects. This is crucial because the primary questions surrounding the development of social welfare programs are: who should get it, how much they should get, and how long they should get it for. Research has also found that social welfare programs can produce disparate resource feedback effects, both encouraging and discouraging participatory behavior. To answer these questions, I utilize the 1997 National Longitudinal Survey of Youth. I incorporate three comprehensive measures of social welfare receipt which allow the estimation of the effects over time. I find that the amount of aid received, and the duration of receipt are both significant factors in shaping participatory behavior but depending on the program I find heterogeneous effects. The disparate effects persist across social welfare programs and race.

POSITION STATEMENT: Pass the RESTORE (Re-entry Support Through Opportunities for Resources and Essentials) Act.

Under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), current federal policy mandates a lifetime ban for individuals with a past felony drug conviction from receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits. Denying nutritional and financial assistance to individuals with a past felony conviction will widen existing structural health inequities, set back individuals' successful re-entry into society, and contribute to recidivism and poorer health outcomes. Therefore, the Society of Behavioral Medicine supports the RESTORE ACT (Re-Entry Support Through Opportunities for Resources and Essentials Act), which would repeal the lifetime ban on receiving SNAP and TANF benefits for individuals convicted of a drug felony.

Household Income and Offspring Education Explain Blacks' Diminished Returns of Parental Education.

High parental education promotes various aspects of offspring well-being including reducing their risk of depression/anxiety, criminal justice involvement, and welfare reliance. However, according to minorities' diminished returns, these benefits are not equal across racial groups, with Black families experiencing diminished returns of parental education compared to White families. This study explores the role of household income and offspring educational attainment as potential serial pathways that operate as mechanisms underlying diminished returns of parental education on offspring outcomes in Black families. Gender differences in these effects were also explored. Utilizing data from the Future of Families and Child Wellbeing Study (FFCWS) over a 22-year follow-up period (seven waves), we examined the serial mediation by household income and offspring educational attainment in explaining the relationship between parental education and offspring outcomes namely depression, anxiety, criminal justice involvement, and welfare reliance [Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)]. We used structural equation modeling (SEM) with household income as the first mediator and young adult education as the second mediator. Multi-group models were used to explore gender differences in these paths. The study confirmed the role of our proposed serial mediators for Blacks' weaker effects of parental education on offspring outcomes. We observed weaker effects of first affects household income, with this effect being for Black families compared to White families, which then impacted educational attainment of the offspring. The findings indicate that household income plays a crucial mediating role, but its effect is weaker in Black families. Additionally, the educational attainment of offspring from highly educated Black parents is less effective in improving outcomes compared to their White peers, further contributing to diminished returns. Some gender differences were observed for the effects of educational attainment on economic and health outcomes of young adults. The study underscores the need to reconsider traditional assumptions about the comparability of family conditions and outcomes across racial groups with similar levels of parental education. The findings highlight the importance of targeted policies and interventions aimed at enhancing the economic stability and educational outcomes of Black families to address these disparities. Policies should focus on promoting the economic well-being of highly educated Black parents and improving the educational outcomes of their children.

Exploring the Nexus between Nutrition and Academic Performance in Secondary Education: A Case Study in Nyarushanje Sub County, Rukungiri District

The research investigated the impact of malnutrition on academic performance in secondary schools within Nyarushanja Sub County, Rukungiri District. Five schools Bwanga, Rubirizi, St. Peters, Bwanga High, and Nyarushanje High were involved. A total of 1,153 respondents, including head teachers, deputy head teachers, students, and parents, were considered. Sampling involved various methods: purposive, simple random, and stratified random sampling. Primary data came from questionnaires, interviews, and observations, while secondary data included existing literature from sources like magazines and textbooks. Demographic characteristics were assessed: 54% male, 46% female respondents; 36.7% single, 56.6% married, and 6.7% divorced respondents; and age distributions with a majority falling within the 21-30 age bracket. Regarding malnutrition's effects on academic performance, findings included causes such as poor balanced diet (30%), famine (18.3%), and digestive illnesses (16.7%)—and relationships, like cognitive functioning (33.3%) and the impact of iron and zinc on brain function. Proposed solutions to address poor nutrition encompassed providing balanced diet foods (33.3%), timely food availability (18.3%), government sensitization (21.7%), breakfast programs (15%), and support for needy families (3.4%). The study showed a significant correlation between malnutrition and academic performance, emphasizing the need for balanced diets, timely meals, educational initiatives, and government support to improve the nutritional status of students in Nyarushanja Sub County. Keywords: Nutrition, Malnutrition, Academic Performance and Education

Critically Evaluate the Impacts of the Troubled Families Program, Engaging with Relevant Literature

The Troubled Families Program (TFP) in the UK is a government initiative aimed at helping disadvantaged families with health issues, crime, employment, and violence. It is one of the only two government-funded family programs in the UK, with an estimated £9 billion spent on 120,000 troubled families. The program aims to reduce long-term public sector expenditures while improving outcomes for the community's most needy families. The government claims to have successfully turned around 99 percent of all troubled families in 2015, with the positive impacts including breaking down silos in the government, enabling a greater focus on collaborative whole-family work, and enhancing the capacity to deliver comprehensive services. However, the limitations of the program also can't be ignored.

Children’s Home Network’s Kinship Navigator Program: Connecting to Concrete Resources Through Peer-to-Peer Kinship Navigation Services

Peer-to-Peer Kinship Navigation (P2PKN) employs someone with lived kinship caregiving experience in providing support to others experiencing similar challenges. This study examines if P2PKN improves concrete resource benefits application and enrollment and how it compares to other study groups (peer-to-peer plus innovations, formally trained kinship navigators, and usual child welfare services). Using data from the Children’s Home Network Kinship Navigator randomized control trial, this study compared the application and enrollment data for kinship caregivers in Temporary Assistance for Needy Family (TANF) Child Only Program for different types of kinship care program groups. Study findings revealed that P2PKN excelled at connecting caregivers to concrete resources and had significantly higher TANF application and enrollment rates than other groups.

Community Networks with a Family Focus: Success Factors in Implementing a TANF Funded Housing Support Program

Although the US safety net includes housing supports, finding and securing affordable housing remains a challenge for many low-income families. As a block grant to states, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) is a potential mechanism for creating additional supports for housing, which some states such as New Jersey pursue. This qualitative study focuses on three New Jersey counties with positive track records of implementing those additional supports. Research questions concern what factors contributed to successful implementation of the housing supportive Emergency Assistance Program on a county level and how these factors interacted to impact program effectiveness. From thematic coding of interviews with government and nonprofit staff at the state and county levels (N = 17), document reviews, and meeting observations, this study found that the program was incorporated as one piece of a family-centered approach to social service provision. Having a tight network between service providers with strong commitment to the program, vital in previous social service research as well as the current study, fed into that family-centered approach and successful implementation. Future research should examine how to build staff buy-in and mission-driven approaches with a family focus as well as center the voices of participants in these programs.

The 2021 Child Tax Credit in U.S. Historical Context

When the Child Tax Credit (CTC) was created in 1997, its financial benefits were unavailable to families that did not earn enough to owe federal income tax. It has since evolved into a measure that provides partial benefits to millions of children in low-income working families but still leaves out children in families with extremely low or no earnings. In 2021, the credit was enlarged for one year, with full benefits provided to the poorest children. Ten states have also recently instituted state CTCs that provide full benefits to the poorest children. This history of CTC expansion contrasts with the erosion of cash assistance “spending programs”—including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), unemployment insurance, and state general assistance—while being consistent with a larger pattern of tax-credit expansions. Both the CTC and Earned Income Tax Credit have repeatedly been expanded, and various other new benefits have been created as tax credits.

Targeted allowances for children aged 3–7 and 8–17: accessibility, effectiveness and lessons for unified benefit

Families with children can receive monthly payments of a substantial amount (from 50% to 100% of the child’s subsistence minimum). In January 2023, a unified benefit for children was introduced, extending to all categories of the child population the rules of monthly payments provided to low-income families with children aged 3–7 and 8–17. Based on 5 waves of telephone surveys conducted by RANEPA in the period from October 2021 to November 2022, as well as an analysis of comments from Internet sources, the article analyzes the risk of poverty for families with children from 3 to 17 years of age, accessibility of social support, coverage and effectiveness of monthly payments for children aged 3–17. It is shown that households with children aged 3–17 have 1.5 times higher risk of poverty that rises with an increase in the number of children, as well as in the presence of the unemployed, and living in rural areas. By the end of 2022, more than 20% of households with children of this age were covered by payments in question, among families with 3 and more children — 47%. At the same time, less than half of poor households with children aged 3–17 are covered by these payments. Due to provision of payments, the share of poor households decreased in November 2022 by 1.18 times. Several factors remain, which lead to significant exclusion errors that reduces the impact of the monthly payments on poverty. When switching to the unified benefit for children from 0 to 17 years of age, it is important to take into account the experience of providing support for children aged 3–7 and 8–17 in order to make timely adjustments that will increase the coverage of needy families and raise the impact of the benefit on poverty.