Updated: 09/11/2023

Background: A key aspect of TANF’s racist legacy is punishing families by taking away all or part of their cash benefits when they are unable to meet a work or other behavioral requirement. Federal law requires that states reduce a family’s benefit if they “refuse to comply” with work requirements, but it is up to states to decide when and how much of a family’s cash assistance is taken away. All except three states currently have or previously had “full family sanctions” that take away an entire family’s TANF benefit if they are unable to comply with meeting a work requirement. In recent years, advocates and administrators have been successful at eliminating full family sanctions in the District of Columbia and six states – Connecticut, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, and Oregon.  California, New York and Vermont are the only states that have never adopted full family sanctions.

Advocate’s Goal: Advocates should aim to eliminate full family sanctions and reduce the use and severity of all sanctions. Where possible, advocates should seek to follow the example of DC, Illinois, and Maryland, who have structured their grant so that the maximum sanction is less than 10 percent of the grant. You can find the details of these and other states’ sanction policies and their legislative language in the document Approaches-to-Eliminating-Full-Family-Sanctions.Extrenal.docx (live.com) included in the Additional Files at the right. You can also find talking points at this link:  Talking-Points.docx (live.com)

Equity implications: All TANF sanctions are rooted in the racist idea that people with low-incomes, who are disproportionately Black, do not wish to work and must be coerced into doing so. Research shows that work-related sanctions are often applied inappropriately to families with high barriers to unemployment and disproportionately harm Black and other people of color. Research also shows that full-family sanctions have long-term detrimental impacts on families and have driven the steep decline in TANF caseloads since the program’s creation.

State Data:

Welfare Rules Database: Table III.B.3 contains data on states’ initial and most severe sanction for non-compliance with work requirements. Tables III.B.1 and III.B.2 contain details about work activities requirements and exemption policies. ALL DATA ARE FROM 2020 OR EARLIER AND DO NOT CAPTURE RECENT CHANGES.

Key resources:

TANF Studies Show Work Requirement Proposals for Other Programs Would Harm Millions, Do Little to Increase Work: This 2018 report summarizes a large body of research on the application and impact of sanctions. It finds that: 1) sanctions are often applied inappropriately to families with the greatest employment barriers, 2) African American recipients are significantly more likely to be sanctioned, indicating racial bias, 3) parents who leave TANF because of a sanction have poorer labor market outcomes than non-sanctioned parents, and 4) parents who leave TANF because of a sanction experience significant material hardship.

States Have Flexibility to Move TANF Work Programs in an Antiracist Direction: This 2022 report, part of CBPP’s “anti-racist vision for TANF” series, embeds eliminating full-family sanctions in a broader suit of policy changes states can make to improve their TANF work programs. The report also details the racist history that led to full-family sanctions in TANF.

Maine Joins Growing List of States Repealing TANF Full-Family Sanctions: This 2021 blog includes many of the talking points below on full-family sanctions, in the context of Maine. Advocates could use this blog as an example to craft their own blogs about full-family sanctions in their state.

Life After TANF in Kansas: For Most, Unsteady Work and Earnings Below Half the Poverty Line | Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (cbpp.org): This paper provides a detailed analysis of the employment outcomes of families after Kansas implemented significant policy changes that made it harder for families to receive assistance. The report disaggregates the employment outcomes by reason for exit, including sanctions. The data show that the majority of families who leave TANF because of a sanction do not find steady work.

Most Parents Leaving TANF Work, But in Low-Paying, Unstable Jobs, Recent Studies Find: This 2020 report summarizes findings from 13 studies that examined the outcomes of TANF leavers in 9 states between 2007 and 2019. Key findings include that, contrary to stereotypes, most parents on TANF work before, during, and after their stint on cash assistance, but for low-wages and unstable hours that lead them to remain in poverty and experience material hardship.