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Delaware’s TANF State Plan 10-1-2017 to 9-30-2020

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Strategy (ISS). The ultimate goal of this time-limited period is to support the employable adult's search for, and placement in, an unsubsidized job.

Individuals found eligible for TANF prior to January 1, 2000 will still have a forty-eight (48) month time limit even if they reapply for benefits on or after January 1, 2000.

DSS will track the time remaining before a family's time limits expire and notify families on a quarterly basis of the time they have remaining before the time limits expire. At least two (2) months prior to the end of the 36 or 48 cumulative months in which a family has received assistance, DSS will remind the family that assistance will end and notify the family of the right to apply for an extension.

Extensions are provided only to those families who can demonstrate that: • The agency substantially failed to provide the services specified in the individual's Contract of Mutual Responsibility; the related extension will correspond to the time period for which services were not provided; or • Despite their best efforts to find and keep employment, no suitable unsubsidized employment was available in the local economy to the employable adult caretaker; the maximum extension under such circumstances will be 12 months.

Extensions may also be granted where other unique circumstances exist. Extensions will not be granted if the adult caretaker received and rejected offers of employment, quit a job without good cause, was fired for cause, or if the adult caretaker did not make a good faith effort to comply with the terms of the Contract of Mutual Responsibility and the ISS.

After the time limit has been reached, benefits will be provided to families that have been granted an extension only for a maximum period of 12 months. Thus, for time-limited families, the maximum period for receipt of benefits to families enrolled in the time-limited TANF program will be 60 cumulative months for families with a cumulative 48 month time limit and 48 months for families with a 36 month time limit. Delaware will comply with federal regulations regarding families receiving assistance in excess of 60 months of TANF paid through the federal TANF block grant.