Sanctions
A sanction is a reduction or termination of TANF benefits because a requirement was not met — most often a work requirement, but also child support cooperation, school attendance, or reporting rules in some states. Sanctions are state-designed: federal law requires states to have a sanction policy, but the size of the sanction, how long it lasts, and how it can be cured are set by the state. Two families who miss the same hours in different states can therefore face very different consequences.
Partial sanctions and full-family sanctions
In a partial sanction, the benefit is reduced — commonly by removing the adult's share, so the children's portion continues. In a full-family sanction, the whole case closes and no benefit is paid until the family cures the failure or reapplies, depending on the state. Some states escalate: a first failure brings a partial reduction, a repeated failure brings a longer or full sanction. Your sanction notice must state which type applies to you, for how long, and what cures it. If it does not, ask for that information in writing before the sanction takes effect.
Good cause: when a missed requirement is excused
States must recognise good cause — a legitimate reason for missing a requirement, such as illness, a family emergency, lack of transport or child care that the agency was supposed to provide, or a domestic violence situation. Good cause must usually be claimed and documented; it is rarely applied automatically because the agency does not know why you missed hours unless you tell it. If you miss a work activity, contact the agency the same day if you can, explain the reason, and keep any evidence: a doctor's note, a transport receipt, a child care provider's message. Evidence created at the time is far more persuasive than an explanation offered weeks later at a hearing.
Responding to a sanction notice
Read the notice immediately and note three things: the requirement said to have been missed, the date it was missed, and the deadline for responding or appealing. If the facts are wrong — you did attend, you did report, the hours were miscounted — gather your proof and contact the agency at once, and file an appeal if the deadline requires it. Do not let a sanction run while you hope it will be corrected informally. The appeals page explains the fair-hearing route, and the deadline on your notice is the one that matters, not a general deadline quoted on any website.
Curing a sanction and reapplying
Many sanctions can be cured by completing the missed requirement — attending the activity, providing the document, cooperating with child support — after which benefits resume, sometimes from the following month rather than retroactively. In full-family sanction cases, the family may need to reapply or complete a compliance period before benefits restart. Ask explicitly whether the sanction is cured by compliance alone or requires a new application, and whether any months lost to the sanction count toward the time limit. Those two answers determine whether you should prioritise curing, appealing, or both.