Last Updated: July 2023
Family cap policies deny additional assistance to families who have another child while receiving TANF benefits. They are based on faulty and racist assumptions that mothers have more children to qualify for more public assistance; research has shown that caps have no effect on birth rates among families who are TANF participants. Moreover, family cap laws deny critical assistance to families who already have to stretch meager TANF benefits— which are at or below 60 percent of the poverty line in every state— to cover the expenses for an infant. Nationwide, family cap policies have blocked aid to hundreds of thousands of children. Appealing family cap laws is for ensuring that low-income families with young children receive the assistance that they need.
Key Resources:
CBPP’s Blog Post on Repealing Family Caps: This blog post outlines the history of family cap legislation in recent decades, as well as how family caps extend the legacy of reproductive control and punishment of Black women in cash assistance programs. The article also includes a graphic that display of states that still have family caps in place. Note: if the data seems dated, please ask CBPP staff for updated information.
If/When/How’s Talking Points Memo on Family Caps: This document outlines a series of talking points on the ineffectiveness and the harmful effects of family cap policies, through the lens of poverty, reproductive justice, and others. There is also an extensive list of potential state-specific talking points that state advocates could select from to suit their state’s needs.
Berkeley’s Center on Reproductive Rights and Justice’s Report: This report provides an overview of the faulty stereotypes and theory behind family caps, as well as an analysis of how family caps influence (or don’t influence) childbearing and poverty. It also includes case studies of 12 states’ advocacy efforts surrounding family caps, with a particularly in-depth analysis on California.
The Welfare Rules Database (urban.org), Table IV.B.1 provides 50 state + DC information on family cap policies.