Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) funding for the Washington State Department of Children, Youth, and Families (DCYF) Home Visiting Services Account (HVSA) home visiting programs became a reality in Washington in 2014, with the first cohort of programs receiving funding in 2015 and another cohort in 2016.
Over this time, TANF-funded home visiting programs have served hundreds of TANF participants to support their goals and hopes for their families and children. Additionally, TANF home visiting programs and staff learned and developed incredible capacity related to the nuances of TANF participation requirements, partnering with their local Community Service Office, communication and much more.
Early on in the partnership, the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) wisely required an evaluation of this strategy, largely to learn about how funding home visiting did or did not effectively support families to achieve TANF-oriented outcomes. As such, the Research and Data Analysis (RDA) unit within DSHS completed three phases of study on the TANF-funded home visiting program.
Most recently, RDA released the third study in a paper (Home Visiting Services for TANF Families with Young Children: Second Year Outcomes) that outlines the slightly longer-term impacts of home visiting on TANF participating families. The study included 261 families enrolled during the earlier years of the TANF home visiting implementation. This study examines the longer-term outcome of the home visiting involved families compared to similar TANF participating families who were not in home visiting.
The study highlights some very promising outcomes, including:
- Parents enrolled in TANF Home Visiting were more likely to engage in WorkFirst activities in the two years after enrolling.
- Parents enrolled in TANF Home Visiting were more likely to use child care subsidies and greater use of child care was also found in the first year after enrollment.
- Infants born to TANF Home Visiting participants were less likely to be treated for injuries or visit the emergency department for outpatient treatment in the second year after enrollment.
- Infants born to TANF Home Visiting participants were less likely to be placed out of home in the first year after enrollment.
If you have any questions about this report or Home Visiting, please email dcyf.homevisiting@dcyf.wa.gov.