Mission
The Office of Family Assistance (OFA) invests in families and communities for equitable economic and family prosperity across generations through effective economic supports, workforce development, and supportive services.
Priorities
OFA’s priorities include:
- Values: Grounding OFA’s work in narratives, lived experience, and expertise that reinforces our national commitment to building equitable family well-being.
- Accessibility: Improving access to high quality services delivered by states, tribes, territories and community-based partners to improve family well-being.
- Structure: Promoting the inherent leadership in each OFA team member and increasing efficiency through staff structure.
- Process: Improving program administration to provide high quality service and support to grantees.
- Collaboration: Promoting Intra/Interagency collaboration to address whole family outcomes.
Programs
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Since replacing Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) in 1996, the TANF program has served as one of the nation’s primary economic security and stability programs for families and children with low-incomes. TANF is a block grant that provides $16.6 billion annually to states, territories, the District of Columbia, and federally-recognized Indian tribes. These TANF jurisdictions use federal TANF funds to provide income support to families with children with low-income, as well as to provide a wide range of services (e.g., work-related activities, child care, and refundable tax credits) designed to accomplish the program’s four broad purposes. These statutory purposes are to:
- provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives;
- end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage;
- prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and
- encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.
While TANF jurisdictions must meet certain work participation and cost sharing requirements, they have considerable flexibility with TANF funds to implement programs that best serve their distinct communities.
- Tribal TANF. Federally-recognized Indian tribes are eligible to apply for funding to administer and operate their own TANF programs. Tribes receive block grants to design and operate programs that accomplish one of the four purposes of the TANF program. There are currently 73 Tribal TANF programs, representing 287 federally-recognized tribes and Alaska Native Villages.
- Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF). The HMRF initiative is a $150 million Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) discretionary grant program originally authorized under the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005 and reauthorized under the Claims Resolution Act of 2010. These programs play a key role in helping OFA achieve its goals to foster economically secure households and communities for the well-being and long-term success of children and families. On September 30, 2015, OFA announced grant awards to 91 organizations in 27 states and one territory to provide activities to promote healthy marriage and relationship education, responsible fatherhood, and reentry services for currently or formerly incarcerated fathers under three funding opportunities. The Healthy Marriage and Relationship Education Grant Program (HMRE), New Pathways for Fathers and Families (New Pathways), and Responsible Fatherhood Opportunities for Reentry and Mobility (ReFORM) are part of HHS’ community-based efforts to promote strong, healthy family formation and maintenance, responsible fatherhood and parenting, and reentry opportunities for fathers returning from incarceration.
- Native Employment Works (NEW). The Native Employment Works (NEW) program provides annual funding to 78 grantees for a variety of work-related activities to support job readiness, job placement, and job retention for Native Americans.
- Tribal TANF-Child Welfare Coordination grants. On October 6, 2020, ACF announced the award of $1.8 million in TANF — Child Welfare Coordination grants to 8 tribes and tribal organizations. The grant awards demonstrate models of effective coordination of Tribal TANF and child welfare services provided to tribal families at risk of child abuse or neglect. These projects are tailored to meet the needs of each tribe. Activities will be aimed at the coordination of services: to improve case management for families eligible for assistance from a tribal TANF program; to provide supportive services and assistance to tribal children in out-of-home placements and the tribal families caring for such children, including families who adopt such children; and to provide prevention services and assistance to tribal families at risk of child abuse and neglect. The project period for these grants is five years, from September 30, 2020, through September 29, 2025.