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All County Letter No. 14-100 Page Seven

As stated in ACL No. 14-78, whenever an AU is moved out of a K1 or 3F aid code back into a non-K1/3F aid code, the AU will be subject to all of the CS Enforcement Program Regulations in accordance with MPP section 82-500. AUs will be required to complete and sign new CW 2.1NA Notice and Agreement for Child, Spousal and Medical Support and the CW 2.1Q Child Support Questionnaire forms, and penalties and sanctions will again apply if the recipient fails to comply with CS requirements without good cause. CWDs must only apply penalties and sanctions prospectively, after having allowed the AU to comply with CS requirements.

In addition, these families will no longer directly receive the entire child support amount collected from an absent parent and will instead receive only the $50 child support disregard. CWDs must reevaluate reasonably anticipated child support income for these families since child support will be retained by the county and no longer provided directly to the family.

As a result of this change, the CWD will need to determine if any changes to the AU's grant are necessary pursuant to MPP section 44-316.312. CDSS also strongly encourages CWDs to explain all of the changes in child support requirements and collections to families who will be impacted by this change so that the family is aware of possible penalties and sanctions that might apply if they fail to follow the new rules and that the amount of child support payments they receive will change. Child support that is collected by the LCSA will be used to reimburse aid paid to the family, and anytime a full month of aid is repaid in this manner, that month will not count toward the adult’s 48- month time clock.

Example: An AR/CO case that is currently receiving $200 per month in direct child support (for an aided child) only has $50 of this unearned income disregarded. The remaining $150 is counted against the AU's grant. However, once the adult is added to the AU in April 2015, any child support collected will be retained by the LCSA/CWD, with the exception of the $50 disregard, which will be passed on to the family. The CWD must determine what income the family can reasonably anticipate for the remainder of the SAR period and make any changes to the AU's grant based on the change in child support income pursuant to MPP section 44-316.312. The CWD shall contact the LCSA if the CWD is unsure of when the child support collections will begin, in order to determine the AU's reasonably anticipated income.

Referrals to Welfare-to-Work (WTW) Services for CalWORKs Cases

All adult recipients of CalWORKs are required to participate in WTW activities, unless a WTW exemption applies or the family is in need of family stabilization services. Adults