The New Jersey Department of Human Services has dedicated much effort to ensuring that working families obtain the supports and resources they need to achieve and maintain self-sufficiency. This includes helping families who are making a transition from welfare to work. Supports, such as help accessing transportation, medical insurance, child care and housing services are critically important to low-income, working families. The Division of Family Development is the Department’s primary source of information and referral to   services for most of these families. Services include the following:

Child Care services are coordinated by the Department, in cooperation with Unified Child Care Agencies in every county. Services include information and referral to help parents locate child care resources and to answer typical questions regarding types of child care, how to pay for care, and even how to become a family day care provider.

Child support services are coordinated by the Department to help custodial parents receive child support payments that, for one reason or another, they are not obtaining from the children’s non-custodial parent.

Food Stamps help eligible New Jerseyans receive benefits to assist them in the purchase of a nutritionally balanced diet. Local County Welfare Agencies determine eligibility.

Home Energy Assistance- The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) provides subsidies to help low-income families and individuals pay for home heating costs or heating bills associated with rent. Households may also be eligible for medically-necessary cooling assistance, or for energy funds on an emergency basis.

Kinship care is provided by grandparents and other relatives who care for their family member’s child(ren). The Kinship Navigator Program is an information and referral program, established to help relatives navigate their way through the various governmental systems to find the local supports they need, including support groups, cash assistance, medical coverage, housing assistance, child care resources, and respite services. In addition to the navigator service, monthly subsidies are available to eligible kinship caregivers.

New Jersey Family Care provides free or low-cost health insurance to low-income working families and their children. Those eligible for the program include parents with incomes up to 200% of the federal poverty level, and children in families earning up to 350% of the federal poverty level.

The NJ Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), based on the federal EITC, provides a fully refundable credit to help boost the paychecks of low-income families. Working families who receive the federal EITC and earn less than $20,000 annually, are eligible for the NJ EITC.

Refugee Services– The Refugee Resettlement Program (RRP) provides eight months of cash and medical assistance for refugees who flee from their countries due to persecution or the threat of it. RRP is open to single or childless adults; all other eligible refugees can receive assistance through Work First New Jersey.

Transportation Assistance (for families entering the workforce) – For working families who need help in commuting to and from the workplace, the state and counties offer free or subsidized bus/train passes, as well as alternate transportation in areas not adequately served by public transportation.

Work First New Jersey is the state’s public assistance program, designed to help families move to self-sufficiency by offering them a full array of supports, from child care, health insurance and transportation, to substance abuse treatment and emergency funds. Recipients face a five-year lifetime limit on cash assistance, and must become employed or take part in work activities.