Child Care Payment Assistance
Smart Steps child care payment assistance is available to income-eligible families who are working or enrolled in post-secondary education programs. Smart Steps was established to provide child care financial assistance to eligible families with children ages six weeks until kindergarten. The Tennessee Department of Human Services also offers child care assistance to families participating in the Families First (TANF) program.
Child Support Re-entry Unit
The Tennessee Department of Human Services established a child support unit to provide employment and re-entry services to non-custodial parents (NCPs). The Child Support Re-entry Unit will manage a caseload that includes all incarcerated parents and their families. This unit provides recently released non-custodial parents with intensive case management that focuses on successful integration back into the community by providing supportive services, mediation services, and employment assistance.
Specifically, this unit visits prisons to meet with NCPs, provides regular information through presentations and prison newsletters, helps NCPs modify their Child Support orders, and connect NCPs to community resources.
The Child Support Re-entry Unit is working to develop and maintain state and local partnerships to help parents transition successfully. Finding local resources, keeping contact information updated, and tracking success outcomes from these partnerships will be a critical part of the unit's work.
Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services
The Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) Services program includes determination of eligibility, determination of the nature and scope of VR services, and the provision of employment-focused rehabilitation services for individuals with disabilities consistent with their strengths, priorities, and resources.