Written by a parent, not a doctor. Nothing here is medical advice.

Childhood Cancer Lantern
Search Saved

Tennessee program

Monthly cash when income is low (Families First)

Families First is monthly cash assistance for families with very little income and limited savings.

What it is

Families First is monthly cash assistance for families with very little income and limited savings.

Families First is cash when a parent's pay has stopped and savings are low. There is a first income test and a second, tighter one only the state can run. A child on SSI is left out of the case, and a relative raising the child can ask for a child-only case.

Eligibility rules
  • The savings ceiling is $2,000 in resources the program counts.
  • Both gross and net income tests apply. The net calculation must show a shortfall of at least $1.
  • The ordinary lifetime limit is 60 months. A hardship extension has separate criteria and caseload limits. A work exemption does not automatically grant an extension.
What you get
  • Monthly cash, with the amount set by the size and income of the assistance case.
What the help covers
  • The July 1, 2021 table lists maximum monthly grants of $343, $387, $438, $471 and $502 for groups of 2–6.
  • For three people, that table lists a $2,866 gross monthly standard and a $1,549 net standard. The gross test is 185% of the state’s need standard, not the poverty line.
  • The published table (effective July 1, 2021) lists, for one person, a $1,806 gross standard, a $976 net standard and a $244 maximum grant. DHS decides the actual amount.
If you decide to apply
  1. If you decide to pursue cash help, the social worker can help with the Human Services portal or local office.
  2. Income, savings and caregiver information help DHS identify the right assistance case.
  3. The counselor can help explain your child’s care needs when discussing work requirements.

Tennessee Department of Human Services customer portal or local office. · Official page ↗

After you ask
  • Human Services decides the assistance group, income calculation and work requirements.
  • A parent needed to care for a disabled relative may be exempt from work requirements after DHS reviews the care need and supporting evidence. That is separate from any hardship extension of the lifetime cash limit, which is not automatic. The published application standard is 45 calendar days, with special protections for some agency-caused delays. The social worker can help describe the care and ask what verification DHS needs.
  • A decision is due within 45 days. The usual work requirement is 30 hours a week, with exemptions, and a hardship extension of the 60-month limit is rare.
Good to know

A child receiving SSI is excluded from the cash-assistance group. A non-parent relative may ask for a child-only case.

Other details
  • A qualifying non-parent relative can be a grantee for a child-only case without automatically counting all of that relative’s income and assets. DHS checks the legal relationship, required case members and the child’s income. A child receiving SSI is excluded under the unit rules; other disability payments need their own review.
  • Diversion assistance is a separate route for returning to work. Its manual lists outstanding medical bills as a reason it will not be paid.
  • A one-time diversion payment of up to 12 months' grant is for returning to work, not for medical bills; it uses up those months of your 60-month limit and may have to be repaid if you come back to monthly help early.

Federal background: Temporary Assistance for Needy Families.

Official sources
Ask your social worker

“Could Families First help while earnings are low, and how would its work rules or SSI affect us? If the grant would be useful, could you help us work through the application?”

Why I’m asking: I want to understand the cash amount and obligations before relying on this help.

More background and detailed requirements
Additional program information and published rules

Who does what

The three parts, side by side. The agency decides; nobody on this page does.

You

Report this month’s income and savings, and say who is raising the child.

Your social worker

The social worker can write that a parent has stopped work to care for the child.

The care team

Records and letters when the application asks for them.

Who decides
Tennessee Department of Human Services.
Ask the agency
“I want to apply for Families First. If a relative is raising my child, can it be a child-only case?”

How to apply

First step: Apply through the department’s customer portal, and say if a relative rather than a parent is raising the child.

  1. Check savings first: over $2,000 and the answer is no whatever the income.
  2. If a relative is raising the child, ask for a child-only case by name.

Official application / program page ↗

Where it starts: Apply through the department’s customer portal or a local office.

What to gather

  • This month’s pay stubs
  • Bank balances
  • Who lives at home and their relationship to the child

How long: The department gives itself 45 days, with interim benefits by day 50 if an application is still not authorized on day 49.

What a yes looks like

A card with a monthly amount, issued the first business day after the case is authorized.

What a no looks like, and the next move

Ask whether it was savings, gross income or the need standard, and whether a child-only case would change the answer.

Watch out

  • Savings over $2,000 end it before income is looked at.
  • A relative raising the child can ask to be left out, which makes it a child-only case on the child’s income alone.
  • The separate diversion payment is for getting back to work. The manual lists outstanding medical bills as a reason it will not be paid.

Dates that change this

2021-07-01: The income and grant table the department still links is the one effective July 1, 2021. No newer table was found, so treat the figures as the state’s current published ones and expect the caseworker to use its own desk guide.

The numbers and the rules

The arcane layer, kept on purpose. Checked September 11, 2026.

What it is worth

Up to $387 a month for a home of three, $438 for four, on the table the department still publishes.

  • $387/month — Maximum monthly grant, assistance unit of 3
  • $438/month — Maximum monthly grant, assistance unit of 4
  • $2,866/month — Gross income standard, assistance unit of 3
  • $2,000 — Countable savings ceiling

Covers: Monthly cash on a card

Legal protection: A relative who is not the parent may choose to be left out of the case, leaving a child-only case · A work exemption for caring for a disabled relative at home

What it costs the family: None.

The eligibility facts, as published

Income
a gross test at 185 percent of the state’s Consolidated Need Standard, and a net test needing a shortfall of at least one dollar
Resources
$2,000 countable
Time limit
60 months in a lifetime, with extensions for units exempt from the work requirements
Child only
a non-parent relative may elect to be excluded from the case
Ssi children
a child who receives a federal disability payment is excluded from the assistance unit

Expect friction on: A savings ceiling of $2,000 rules out many families before income is even looked at · Sixty-month lifetime limit

The trap: The work rules have an exemption for caring for a disabled relative at home. It does not expressly cover the weeks a child is in hospital, so ask the case manager to write down which exemption they are using.

Where I read this

← Back to your options