About OFA

Work is more than a means of income. It is a source of dignity and responsibility. Through work, individuals contribute to the well-being of their families, participate in their communities, and develop their talents and abilities.

OFA promotes a vision of work that:

• Recognizes each person’s inherent dignity and capacity for contribution
• Regards employment as a meaningful activity that fosters confidence and purpose
• Allows parents to model responsibility and stability for their children
• Creates a clear pathway to financial independence, reducing reliance on taxpayer-funded government handouts

Stable marriages are the cornerstone of a healthy society. They provide the environment in which children are most likely to prosper and parents are best able to build a stable home.

OFA supports strategies that:

• Strengthen the marital bond
• Promote responsible fatherhood, ensuring fathers are engaged and supportive in the lives of their children
• Reinforce the stability that committed marriage brings to family life
• Advance ACF’s A Home for Every Child initiative by strengthening families as a prevention strategy to reduce the likelihood that children enter the foster care system 

Program integrity is essential to preserving the purposes of TANF. Safeguarding eligibility rules protects taxpayers, ensures resources reach families Congress intended to serve, and helps prevent taxpayer funds from acting as a magnet that fuels illegal immigration to the United States.

OFA is committed to ensuring that assistance is provided only to individuals and families who are eligible under federal law, including all citizenship and immigration status requirements. OFA will use all available options to ensure compliance on prohibitions against grantees or subgrantees providing benefits to illegal aliens.

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:

1. provide assistance to needy families so that children may be cared for in their own homes or in the homes of relatives;
2. end the dependence of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage;
3. prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies; and
4. 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 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 76 Tribal TANF programs, representing 285 federally-recognized tribes and Alaska Native Villages.

Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF). OFA administers the Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood (HMRF) programs, which provide $150 million per year in discretionary grants, contracts, research and evaluation, and other activities to strengthen families, promote responsible parenting, and improve family economic stability. The programs were originally authorized in 2005, and continues its authorization under 42 U.S.C. §603(a)(2).

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 American Indians.

Tribal TANF-Child Welfare Coordination grants. OFA administers Tribal TANF — Child Welfare Coordination program, which provides $2 million per year through 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 are 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.