Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Listening Session Question Guide

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RECS TANF Listening Session Question Guide
Thank you for taking part in today’s listening session. My name is [INSERT] and I am with the Administration for Children and Families, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. A representative(s) from AIR, the contractor assisting ACF with this effort, is attending the session as well, to assist with notetaking. The goal of this listening session is to hear from TANF administrators about how best to implement and improve TANF program and policy.

We anticipate that this discussion will take up to 60 minutes. Your participation is voluntary, and you can decide not to participate at any point. The information you provide will be kept private and names of individual respondents will not be included in any summary reports. We appreciate your insights and are grateful for your willingness to share your experiences and perspectives. 

According to the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a valid OMB control number. The valid OMB control number for this information collection is #0970-0531 and the expiration date is 09/30/2025.

Do you have any questions before we get started? 

Is it alright if we take notes on this conversation? The notes will not be shared with anyone outside the federal and contractor staff working on this effort and will be summarized and stored on a secure drive at AIR.

    1. Technical Assistance
        o What ongoing technical assistance will be most helpful as you continue to work through implementing the different provisions of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA)?
        o Are there FRA deadlines that you are concerned about meeting where technical assistance can help? For example:
             Systems support
             Reporting requirements
             Interagency partnerships
    2. Operational Concerns
        o What successes and challenges have you experienced around program integrity and fraud fighting?
        o Are there other specific operational concerns or challenges you would like to share?
    3. Policy Discussion
        o What activities are you supporting to promote marriage and two-parent families?
        o What are innovative approaches or promising practices you are implementing to promote employment?
        o Do you want to share any trends or changes your state is seeing within your caseload?
        o Many of you are coming out of legislative session. Did you see any trends that could impact your TANF program? Were there conversations that did not result in legislation but potentially could impact your program in the future? How can we better position ourselves as your federal partner to support any future challenges? 
Thank you so much for your time. We appreciate all that you have shared.