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North Carolina

5 North Carolina’s TANF Program North Carolina’s Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, called Work First (WF), is one of the many programs that connects families to resources to support wellness and economic self-sufficiency. The program is based on the premise that parents have a responsibility to support themselves and their children.

The Work First program promotes a strengths-based, family-centered practice approach and shares in the mission of the NC DHHS, in collaboration with its partners, to protect the health and safety of all North Carolinians and provide essential human services. NC DHHS is responsible for establishing, supervising and monitoring the Work First Program. At present, all services and benefits are delivered by county department of social services in North Carolina’s 100 counties.

Work First provides parents with short-term training and other services to help them become employed and move toward self-sufficiency. Other families, in which grandparents and relatives are caring for their relative children and legal guardians can receive services and support that prevent children from unnecessarily entering the foster care system. Of all TANF caseloads, grandparent and relative cases represent the highest caseloads in North Carolina.

Ultimately, North Carolina’s goal is to help all families move to self-sufficiency. Many families can successfully leave the Work First program. Others, because of a hardship or disability, may have a harder time becoming self-sufficient. With those families, the role of the Work First program is to ensure that families receive all available benefits and services, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and Vocational Rehabilitation.

North Carolina’s success at helping families move from Work First to work thus far has led to a broadened focus for the Work First program. No longer is the focus just on helping those families who receive Work First Cash Assistance obtain employment. North Carolina has added the flexibility and program structure for counties to provide former Work First families with job retention and child and family enrichment services designed to help ensure families experience long-term success. Further, since child support is critical to ensuring families’ success, North Carolina allows counties to provide work-related services to non-custodial parents of Work First children.

In North Carolina, Work First emphasizes three goals for its Work First programs and has identified the following strategies:

Goal 1: Diversion Support families in their efforts to maintain self-sufficiency through unexpected emergencies by providing short-term assistance and resources. Strategy 1: Connect qualifying families with Benefit Diversion, Emergency Assistance, and/or Work First Services for Low-Income Families below or at 200% of the Federal Poverty Level

Strategy 2: Provide Employment Services for Non-Custodial Parents and other supportive services, if applicable.

Strategy 3: Align resources and referral processes for unexpected emergencies (i.e. food, housing and other needs) with NCCARE360.