Last updated: July 2023
In the United States, young children are more likely to be poor than any other age group. Poverty during the “first year of life” is a particularly strong indicator of risk—after all, children who are born into families experiencing poverty are far more likely than other children to spend more than half of their childhood in poverty. A large body of research has also shown that infancy is a particularly critical period for children’s development, with implications for lifelong physical and emotional well-being. However, states have rarely used TANF funds to provide targeted support for TANF families with young children. For fiscal year 2021, about 8.9 percent of families receiving TANF assistance included a child under age one.
One strategy to advocate for expanded access to TANF is to emphasize the importance of income support within the “first year of life” of a child or infant in need. Potential policy changes include: (1) extending TANF eligibility to pregnant people with no other children; (2) waiving or modifying work requirements for children under 12 months; and (3) providing extra payments for TANF parents or non-TANF parents with low incomes at the birth of a child to help cover the additional expenses associated with meeting the needs of an infant.
(States can exclude parents with children under 12 months once in a lifetime from their work participation rate calculation so states may not need to be concerned about waiving or modifying work requirements. States can provide non-recurrent short-term payments to parents at the birth of a child for up to four months without triggering time limits, work requirements or child support cooperation and assignment requirements.)
Key Resources:
TANF and the First Year of Life: Making a Difference at a Pivotal Moment | CLASP: This piece by CLASP outlines the overall importance of family income support during pregnancy and the first year of life, as well as the policy levers within TANF to provide such support. Some policies proposed within the brief include waiving or modifying work requirements for pregnant people, as well as eliminating family caps. While it’s worth noting that the brief itself was written in 2015, an updated version of its appendix tables (which record state policies) is available.
Rx Kids Program in Flint, Michigan: This short report outlines the Rx Kids program, which is the first citywide cash allowance program implemented in Flint, Michigan. The program is funded by the state TANF block grant as well as other foundation grants. Advocates can utilize the example of Rx Kids as a model to push for similar programs locally in their states.
Experiences of Poverty Around the Time of a Birth: A Research Note: This study by Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy utilized data from the Survey of Income and Program Participation and the Supplemental Poverty Measure to analyze the poverty rates of mothers 6 months before and after childbirth, comparing across racial and ethnic groups. The researchers found that poverty rates among mothers increase after childbirth, and that existing government programs did not protect mothers from falling into poverty after childbirth. These findings lend support to expanding federal programs such as TANF to better support mothers in the first year of life.
Case-for-federal-birth-grant-CPSP-2023.docx (squarespace.com): This brief, also from Columbia University’s Center on Poverty and Social Policy, models the potential impact of a federal birth grant— “benefits or payments to parents of newborns to assist with parental and newborn expenses.” The study also modeled the impact of a federal birth grant in combination with an expanded monthly child tax credit. The researchers ultimately predicted that those policies could significantly reduce poverty rates among infants and families in their first year post childbirth. Although those policies were not specific to TANF, targeted TANF cash assistance could likely yield similar results.
ChildTrends – Cash Transfers Support Infant and Toddler Development: This brief by ChildTrends outlines the ways in which cash transfers can significantly help families meet the basic physical and mental needs of young infants and toddlers. Although this brief primarily focuses on cash transfers made through the Child Tax Credit and the Earned Income Tax Credit, the same effects could be achieved through TANF cash assistance.
Implications of Paid Family Leave for Welfare Participants on JSTOR: This study examined a cohort of “new-mother” recipients of TANF in Wisconsin that received cash assistance that substituted for paid family leave benefits. The author ultimately found that “new-mother” recipients of income assistance would be better off with cash assistance than paid family leave benefits, and that a substantial minority used their cash assistance as a short-term resource during their maternity leave.