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ExpectMore.govExpectMore.gov home pageEXPECT FEDERAL PROGRAMS TO PERFORM WELL, AND BETTER EVERY YEAR.
 
Program Assessment

Program

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Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)

The program provides time-limited cash assistance to needy families with children while working toward achieving the goals of ending dependence by promoting work and marriage, prevent out-of-wedlock births, and encouraging the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.

Rating

What This Rating Means

PERFORMING
Moderately Effective

In general, a program rated Moderately Effective has set ambitious goals and is well-managed. Moderately Effective programs likely need to improve their efficiency or address other problems in the programs' design or management in order to achieve better results.
  • The program has produced modest, but statistically significant increases in employment and earnings among welfare recipients as well as reduced caseloads, poverty, and welfare dependency. These findings are consistent across evaluations, although the size of the findings directly attributable to welfare reform varies according to the study.
  • The Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 (DRA) made a number of changes to strengthen the program's focus on promoting work, including establishing meaningful work performance targets. It accomplished this by recalibrating the caseload reduction credit; defining work participation activities; and clarifying how work activity hours are to be counted and tracked.
  • It is inconclusive whether the program has promoted marriage or reduced the incidence of out-of-wedlock births. The program does not require States to report or demonstrate progress on promoting marriage.

Improvement Plan

About Improvement Plans

We are taking the following actions to improve the performance of the program:

  • Reassessing the program's performance measures and related targets.
  • Implementing the plan to determine the rate and amount of cash assistance payments that are paid improperly and developing a plan for reducing improper payments.

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