What is the TANF State Plan?
The TANF State Plan is a written document prepared for the Federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to outline how Missouri intends to conduct its Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program. The document certifies Missouri’s commitment to certain requirements in the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, which established the TANF program to provide assistance to needy families with children. The TANF program in Missouri is called Temporary Assistance.
What is required in the TANF State Plan for Missouri?
The TANF State Plan outlines how Missouri intends to do the following:
- Conduct its TANF program to serve the entire state so that assistance can be provided to needy families with children and provide parents with job preparation, work and support services to enable them to leave the program and become self-sufficient.
- Require that parents or caretaker relatives receiving assistance engage in work once the State determines that the parent or caretaker is ready to engage in work.
- Ensure that parents and caretaker relatives receiving assistance engage in certain approved work activities.
- Take reasonable steps to restrict disclosure of information about families receiving assistance.
- Establish goals and take action to prevent and reduce the incidence of out-of-wedlock pregnancies.
- Conduct a program designed to reach State and local law enforcement officials, the education system, and relevant counseling services, that provides education and training on the problem of statutory rape.
09/16/14