14. Department of Health and Human Services · Minor
Require explicit measurement of TANF marriage and family formation goals
Printed page 476 14. Department of Health and Human Services
“Marriage, healthy family formation, and delaying sex to prevent pregnancy are virtually ignored in terms of priorities, yet these goals can reverse the cycle of poverty in meaningful ways. CMS should require explicit measurement of these goals.”
What has happened
- Not started
Nothing requires states to measure marriage, healthy family formation or delayed sexual activity in their TANF reporting. The in-window movement is subtraction: ACF's final rule of 2026-07-31 removes 45 CFR part 283, the regulations implementing the section 403(a)(2) bonus to reward a decrease in the illegitimacy ratio, and 45 CFR part 282, the high performance bonus - the two family-formation measurement schemes in the TANF regulations - on the ground that Congress defunded them in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. ACF did revise family-formation performance measures inside the window, but for Healthy Marriage and Responsible Fatherhood grant recipients (OMB 0970-0566), not for state TANF reporting; that is #1333.
Research log
What was searched, and what didn’t count as evidence
Research notes
- The Quote says CMS; the program is ACF’s, and the item is researched against ACF.
- Searched: Federal Register API since 2025-01-20 - “Temporary Assistance for Needy Families” (50, read by title), “work requirements” TANF (6), “Healthy Marriage” (4), “Responsible Fatherhood” (4); the TANF data reporting requirements at 45 CFR part 265 are unchanged apart from RIN 0970-AD31’s planned citizenship-verification data elements.
- Action
- other
- Object
- TANF marriage and family formation metrics
- ID
- 1319