Testimony: Child Support Improvement Amendment Act of 2026
Jennifer Mezey, Deputy Director of Children’s Law Center’s Healthy Together Medical-Legal Partnership, testified regarding B26-0572 the Child Support Improvement Amendment Act of 2026.
Many of the families we serve through the Healthy Together program receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) – last year, over 600 families served by the Healthy Together program received TANF. We see directly how TANF helps support these families’ access to housing, food, and transportation, preserving some small measure of economic stability.
Having available cash provides power, flexibility, and greater stability, especially during uncertain economic times. Thus, ensuring cash more easily flows to families would provide further stability for the families we serve and beyond. Therefore, we support the Child Support Improvement Amendment Act of 2026.
TANF is Still a Lifeline
The TANF is Still a Lifeline Coalition works to support families with children by fighting to preserve and bolster DC’s TANF program. TANF is a cash assistance program that helps families pay for rent and utilities, clothes, school supplies and other essentials for parents in poverty-wage and unstable jobs, when the economy is weak and jobs are scarce, and when parents face barriers to working consistently.