TANF Cash Assistance

TANF is Pennsylvania's monthly cash help for families with children. A typical family of three gets about $403 a month; the exact Family Size Allowance depends on your county. Apply at COMPASS (compass.dhs.pa.gov), at your county assistance office, or by mailing form PA 600. Cash arrives on the same ACCESS card as SNAP.

The gates are strict: countable assets must be under $1,000, a child under 18 must be in the home, and income tests apply. The lifetime limit is 60 months, though Extended TANF can continue help past it if you are working, in training, a domestic violence survivor, or medically unable to work.

Know the strings before signing. Most adults join RESET, PA's work program, with a personal plan called the Agreement of Mutual Responsibility. Skipping it has teeth: 30 days of ineligibility the first time, 60 the second, permanent the third, and after 24 months on aid, sanctions hit the whole family. Naming the child's absent parent is required too, or the grant drops at least 25 percent. Domestic violence creates exceptions to both; say so.

The tool almost nobody knows: the Diversion Program. If you have recent earnings and expect income within 3 months, you can take a one-time payment of up to 3 times your Family Size Allowance instead of monthly aid, once per 12 months. For a bridge between jobs, that lump sum often beats months of small checks.

If TANF's tight limits rule you out, the same COMPASS application reaches SNAP at much higher incomes ($5,360 a month for a family of four), keeps the kids covered through Medicaid or CHIP, and the new Working Pennsylvanians Tax Credit pays up to $805 at tax time. Appeals get 30 days from the notice date.