The Temporary Aid to Needy Families program (TANF) was designed to help lower income families with minor children with cash assistance, particularly while parents are seeking employment. However, states are allowed to spend TANF funds for a variety of other activities (for example, administrative costs, child care and pre-K programs, child welfare services, and work support activities) in addition to directly supporting families. TANF’s reach has declined over the years to the point where, in 2019, 23 of every 100 families living in poverty received any TANF benefits, with access being especially challenging for Black families.
The numerator is the number of TANF families whose youngest child was under 3 for Fiscal Year 2020 (October 2019-September 2020). The denominator is the number of families whose youngest child was under 3 and who lived below 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Line based on estimates from the 2020 – 2022 Current Population Survey (Annual Social and Economic Supplement) which spans March 2019 – February 2022. For the State of Babies Yearbook:2023 we do not include territories in the national count. We combine 3 years of data for the denominator in order to improve indicator reliability for the State of Babies Yearbook:2023 and 2022. This should be considered an improved estimate and not a new estimate that can be compared directly to the 2021, 2020, or 2019 yearbook estimates. Values greater than 100 percent are suppressed. Floyd, I., & Meyer, L. (2020). Cash assistance should reach millions more families to lessen hardship. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. https://www.cbpp.org/research/family-income-support/cash-assistance-should-reach-millions-more-families-to-lessen
Sources:
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance. (2021). Characteristics and financial circumstances of TANF recipients, fiscal year 2020. [Tables]. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/ofa/data/characteristics-and-financial-circumstances-tanf-recipients-fiscal-year-2020
Flood, S., King, M., Rodgers, R., Ruggles, S., Warren, J.R., & Westberry, M. (2022). Current Population Survey 2021. (IPUMS, Current Population Survey: Version 10.0) [Dataset]. IPUMS. https://doi.org/10.18128/D030.V10.0