A growing body of evidence suggests that early difficulties make children poorer, sicker and less educated as adults, so it’s really important that this early childhood foundation is well supported across the spectrum. Against this background, it is imperative that public policies address poverty. Whether it’s nutrition, care, education, housing, health care or other issues affecting the social determinants of health, we all want happy and healthy families and children for a better future.
The child tax credit was primarily an automatic benefit but exclusive to certain tax brackets, and the temporary support for needy families has not reached as many people as it certainly could have reached.
Certain Temporary Assistance for Families in Need
The Child Allowance has received a lot of attention in recent years, but the Temporary Assistance for Families (TANF) is also a resource that can be utilised. TANF cash assistance can play a crucial role in supporting families in times of need. It replaced Assistance for Families with Dependent Children (AFDC), which provided cash assistance to families with children in poverty.
State support for families in poverty is already insufficient. The temporary TANF program helps families with children when parents or other responsible family members are unable to provide basic family needs. TANF reaches far fewer families and provides less cash assistance to families than AFDC, leaving more families living in extreme poverty.
Benefits
- Improving Children’s Health, Educational, and Economic Outcomes1Safawi, Ali, and Cindy Reyes. “States should continue the recent push to further improve TANF benefit levels.” Center on Budget & Policy Priorities, 2 December 2021. https://www.cbpp.org/research/family-income-support/states -must-continue-recent-momentum-to-further-improve-tanf-benefit.
- Stabilizing families in crisis situations2Safawi, Ali and Cindy Reyes. “States should continue the recent push to further improve TANF benefit levels.” Center on Budget & Policy Priorities, 2 December 2021. https://www.cbpp.org/research/family-income-support/states -must-continue-recent-momentum-to-further-improve-tanf-benefit.
- Helping families pay rising rents3Safawi, Ali and Cindy Reyes. “States should continue the recent push to further improve TANF benefit levels.” Center on Budget & Policy Priorities, 2 December 2021. https://www.cbpp.org/research/family-income-support/states -must-continue-recent-momentum-to-further-improve-tanf-benefit.
- Promoting Racial Justice4Schott, Liz, Ife Floyd, and LaDonna Pavetti. “Cash assistance should promote equity.” Center on Budget & Policy Priorities, 4 August 2021. https://www.cbpp.org/research/family-income-support/cash-assistance-should-promote-equity Nichol, Gene and Heather Hunt.
- Ensure families have the income to keep up with rising housing and transportation costs
- Create automatic increases in benefit levels each year so that the Levels of support continue to cope with rising costs of modest incomes
- Escaping poverty support for families struggling to meet their basic needs
Temporary assistance to families in need (TANF)
TANF helps families in need with temporary financial support (2 years) to provide for their families. This program is made possible by Work First. If you are eligible for TANF, you are also eligible for childcare assistance, WIC, SNAP, Medicaid, and education programs available in your city. 919-334-1224
Duke Energy Low Income Programs: Utility Bill Assistance