• Children in Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Child-Only Cases with Relative Caregivers
  This study yielded mixed findings regarding the service needs and well-being of children in TANF child-only cases with relative caregivers. Taken together, these findings suggest both advantages of relative caregiver arrangements for children in TANF child-only cases and cause for concern. Children who enter relative care do so as a result of serious disruption in their parents' ability to care for them. Under such circumstances, relative care is believed to be preferable to either parental care or foster care with nonrelatives. However, these children often experience substantial difficulties as a result of the previous experiences and separation from parents, and the TANF system lacks the necessary resources to respond to them.

• Understanding the AFDC/TANF Child-Only Caseload: Policies, Composition, and Characteristics in Three States
  This report describes how federal and state policies affect child-only caseloads, discusses the national TANF and child-only caseload trends, and examines the characteristics of child-only cases. For a more in-depth review, the reviewers focused on three states — California, Florida, and Missouri — interviewing state and county officials and staff, conducting case file reviews in one county in each state, and analyzing administrative data.

• The Effect of State TANF Choices on Grandparent-Headed Households
  Findings from a study by AARP's Public Policy Institute of how welfare reform may have resulted in state Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) policies that are unresponsive to the unique needs of grandparents raising children in the absence of their parents. Policies and procedures relating to benefit levels, time limits, work requirements, and child support enforcement may have unintended consequences for grandparents.

• Child-Only TANF Cases Trends and Issues
  A summary of state and national trends from the Child Welfare Peer Technical Assistance Network.

• Addressing the Well-Being of Children in Child-Only Cases
  This issue paper provides an overview of the multiple components of child-only cases. It includes a section on Innovative Practices, which highlights five different programs: Alabama's KinShare Pilot Program, New Jersey's Kinship Navigator Program, New York's community-based prevention funding initiative, North Carolina's Dare County Work First County Plan, and Ohio's Statewide Kinship Caregiver Services Program.

• Helping Kin Care for Kids
  This article from the National Conference of State Legislatures discusses the need for child-only legislation and describes what a number of states have enacted to support caregivers.

• Child-Only TANF Payments for Kinship Care Families
  This paper from Casey Family Programs summarizes some of the issues around state TANF decisions that have consequences for households headed by grandparents and other kin. A related document contains TANF Fact Sheets with specific information on 15 states.

Websites

• The Research Forum at the National Center for Children in Poverty
  The Research Forum encourages research, collaboration, and exchange of information among key stakeholders, such as researchers, funders, policymakers, state and local administrators, practitioners and advocates. The website contains several publications on the subject of child-only cases.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       
Last updated 10/08/07