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Delaware’s TANF State Plan 10-1-2017 to 9-30-2020

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A. General Provisions

i. Conduct a program, designed to serve all political subdivisions in the State (not necessarily in a uniform manner), that provides assistance to needy families with (or expecting) children and provides parents with job preparation, work and support services to enable them to leave the program and become self- sufficient.

The goal of Delaware's TANF program is to provide a welfare system based on a philosophy of mutual responsibility. In working toward that goal, the State will strive to place individuals in private or public sector unsubsidized employment that enables them to enter and maintain family sustaining employment. To that end, the TANF program provides individualized supports and programming to assist families to become employed, and expects families to accept responsibility to become self-supporting.

Five key principles form the foundation of TANF: 1. Work should pay more than welfare. 2. Welfare recipients must exercise personal responsibility in exchange for benefits. 3. Welfare should be transitional, not a way of life. 4. Both parents are responsible for supporting their children. 5. The formation and maintenance of two-parent families should be encouraged; and teenage pregnancy and unwed motherhood should be discouraged.

Welfare Reform in Delaware has a long history of active involvement and partnership between and among the State and local governments and the private sector. Delaware has engaged government agencies as well as the public and private sectors in dialogue about the welfare system and ways to enhance it. Since its introduction in January of 1995, in the form of a waiver request, all sectors have had the opportunity to influence Delaware's welfare reform program in a series of public meetings and forums.

A collaborative partnership among the Department of Health and Social Services (DHSS), Department of Labor (DOL), and the Delaware Economic Development Office (DEDO) worked to develop Delaware's TANF program. The Delaware Transit Corporation (DTC) is also a planning partner. The Social Services Advisory Council, consisting of educators, health professionals, religious leaders, representatives of community-based organizations, advocates, and government leaders, all appointed by the Governor, continues to