TANF Benefits for Grandparents

TANF stands for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families. It is a federal program to provide money and help to needy families with dependent children.

If your dependent grandchild lives with you, you may be eligible for a one-time payment of $1,000. See One-time TANF For Relatives at the website of the Texas Department of Health and Human Services. 

You are eligible if:

• Your dependent grandchild, great-grandchild, or great-great-grandchild lives with you at your house,
• The child’s parent does not live with you,
• Your grandchild gets TANF,
• You or your spouse are the primary caregiver or receive TANF benefits for your grandchild’s (payee),
• You are 45 or older or will turn 45 during the month you apply,
• Your spouse is 45 or older (it does not matter which of you is the child’s caregiver or payee),
• Your family income is at or below 200% of the federal poverty level (FPL), and
• Your resources are below the limit for TANF benefits.

Find your family size and your family’s gross monthly income (before deductions) below.

• For a family size of one, you are eligible if the total household monthly income before deductions is less than $2,265.
• For a family size of two, if the total household monthly income before deductions is less than $3,052, you are eligible.
• For a family size of three, if the total household monthly income before deductions is less than $3,839, you are eligible.
• For a family size of four, if the total household monthly income before deductions is less than $4,625, you are eligible.
• For a family size of five, if the total household monthly income before deductions is less than $5,412, you are eligible.

Note: If more than five people are in your home, add $747 for each additional person.

Your countable resources cannot be worth more than $1,000 for your household. But you don’t need to count everything you own. You do not need to count:

• Your home and lot
• Your personal property
• Burial plots for you and your immediate family
• Resources that may be in your name but are not legally available
• Resources that belong to people in your household who get SSI
• A car worth less than $4,650

A dependent child:

• Lives in Texas
• Is under 18 or under 19 and a full-time student in high school, vocational, or technical school who will graduate before turning 19
• Does not have enough income or resources for a healthy and decent living
• Lives with a parent, grandparent, sibling, stepparent, stepsibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, niece, or nephew
• Does not have a parent’s support because the parent is:
  • away from home,
  • physically or mentally unfit to take care of the child, or
  • dead.

To receive the one-time, $1,000 TANF benefit as a grandparent of a child receiving TANF, you must qualify as a “payee” or a “caretaker.” To qualify as a TANF caretaker, you must meet the requirements to be included in the ongoing TANF grant. To qualify as a payee, you do not have to meet the requirements to be included in the ongoing TANF grant.

• You must live and plan to stay in Texas,
• You must be a U.S. citizen or an eligible alien resident,
• You or your spouse must provide a Social Security number, and
• You must sign a Personal Responsibility Agreement (PRA).

A payee is not included in the grant, and the payee’s income and resources do not count in determining eligibility for child-only TANF. If an adult who could be a payee instead wants to be included in the grant, then the adult’s income and resources will be counted to determine eligibility for the children and the adult together, and the adult will be called a caretaker for TANF purposes.

You can be your grandchild’s payee even if you do not qualify for TANF. To be a “caretaker” in the TANF program, you would have to be included in the grant, and your income and resources would count in determining eligibility. Just as you can apply for TANF for the grandchild (child-only TANF, with you being the “payee”), you can apply for child-only Medicaid.

Yes. If your grandchild lives with you, you can apply for TANF even if a court has appointed Child Protective Services or someone else as the child's conservator. Note: the child cannot receive benefits in more than one household.

Yes. If you got One Time Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (OTTANF) for yourself and your grandchild, you could also apply for ongoing TANF payment.

No, you do not qualify just because your grandchild gets SSI. Your grandchild must get TANF or be certified to get TANF to qualify for the extra benefit.

No. You cannot get a second payment for another grandchild. And if your grandchild moves in with another grandparent after you got a payment, the other grandparent cannot get a payment for that month for that grandchild.

Signing a PRA means you agree to:

• Not quit your job
• Not use alcohol or drugs
• Take parenting classes, if referred
• Get medical screenings and immunizations for your grandchild
• Make sure your grandchild goes to school

Contact the local office of the Texas Health & Human Services Commission or apply online.