CSU - TANF Program: Evolution, Means Testing, Government Roles

This presentation provides an overview of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, outlining its purpose to provide financial assistance and support services to needy families. It details the eligibility criteria, including requirements related to pregnancy, age of children, citizenship, and income. The presentation also traces the program's evolution from the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, highlighting the objectives of the 1996 welfare reform. Furthermore, it explains the means tests utilized by the program to determine eligibility, focusing on estates, poverty levels, and income. Finally, the presentation delineates the roles of the federal, state, and local governments in administering TANF, including funding, program operation, and monitoring, emphasizing the intergovernmental relationships and responsibilities involved in the program's implementation and oversight. Desklib is a great platform to find such solved assignments and past papers.

The Temporary
Assistance for Needy
Family Program (TANF)
Presenter’s Name

Introduction
The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program
offers grant funds to states to provide financial assistance and
other support services to families (Ziliak, 2015).
For qualification, the applicant must be:
- pregnant or having a child under 19 years
-He must be a U.S. citizen, legal alien, or permanent resident
-person with low income, under-employed, unemployed or
almost being unemployed.
The individuals who receive the TANF will be required to find a
job within 24 months of receiving aid (Ziliak, 2015).

Cont....
Some other states place limits on the adult portion of the assistance
only, while still assisting the eligible children in the household.
The objectives of Temporary Assistance for Needy family Program
includes:
-To provide assistance to the needy families so that children can
be cared for in their own homes or homes of relatives.
-To end dependence of needy parents on government benefits.
-To reduce out of-wedlock pregnancies.
-To promote the formation and maintenance of two-parent
families.

Evolution of the program.
The program was created by the Personal Responsibility and
Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 which was a
welfare reform law instituted under the President Bill Clinton
(Falk, 2015).
It replaced the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC)
program – a program which was helping the needy families
with children especially those being headed by single mothers
who are not working.
The aim of the 1996 welfare reform was to look for ways on
how to improve programs that provides cash assistance to the
needy families with children leading to the program creation
(Falk, 2015).

Mean tests utilized by the
program.
A means test is the determination of whether an person or
family is eligible to receive government assistance, according to
what the person or family possesses the means to do without
that help.
The mean tests utilized by TANF includes:
1. Mean tests on estates and surviving widows
2. Mean test on poverty levels in the estates.
3. Mean tests on unemployed poor individuals.
4. Mean tests on very low income earners.
Its main aim is to find the suitable candidate for TANF
entitilement.

Role of federal government in
administering TANF
It is the one running the welfare program through the
departments found in the federal government.
Under TANF, the federal government provides a block grant to
the states, which use these funds in operating their own
programs.
Look for grants to facilitate the operation of TANF.

Role of state government
Contributes to most federal programs while other states
operate as small independent programs (Weaver, 2014) .
It distributes the TANF entitlements after receiving funding
from the federal government (Weaver,2014).
In order to receive federal funds, states must spend some of
their own dollars on programs for needy families as stated by
the state and if not, there are penalties to be faced (Weaver,
2014).
States have the authority of eliminating payments to
recipients.

Role of local government
o Monitoring the use of TANF to those who have been entitled
(Bitler & Hoynes, 2016).
o following up the individuals who have been given the TANF to
ensure that after the elapse of 24 months period, their TANF is
terminated as per the agreement.
o Looking for the needy in the society who can benefit from the
TANF (Bitler & Hoynes, 2016).

References
Ziliak, J. P. (2015). Temporary assistance for needy families(No.
w21038). National Bureau of Economic Research.
Weaver, R. K. (2014). Temporary Assistance for Needy
Families. The Oxford
Falk, G. (2015). The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families
(TANF) block grant: Responses to frequently asked
questions.Handbook of US Social Policy, 355.
Bitler, M., & Hoynes, H. (2016). Strengthening temporary
assistance for needy families. The Hamilton Project, Policy
Proposal, 4.