9034.2 Collateral Contacts

A collateral contact is a verbal confirmation of a household's circumstances by a person outside of the household. The collateral contact may be made either in person or over the telephone. Select a collateral contact if the household fails to designate one or designates one which is unacceptable to the Division. Examples of acceptable collateral contacts are employers, landlords, social service agencies, migrant service agencies, and neighbors of the household who can be expected to provide accurate third party verification. When talking with collateral contacts, DSS will disclose only the information that is absolutely necessary to get the information being sought. DSS will avoid disclosing that the household has applied for food stamps, nor should they disclose any information supplied by the household, especially information that is protected by DSSM 1003, or suggest that the household is suspected of doing any wrong doing. If the Division designates a collateral contact, no contact will be made without providing prior written or oral notice to the household. At the time of this notice, inform the household that it has the following options: 1. Consent to the contact; 2. Provide acceptable verification in another form; or 3. Withdraw the application. If the household refuses to choose one of these options, its application will be denied in accordance with the normal procedures for failure to verify information. Systems of records to which DSS has routine access are not considered collateral contacts and, therefore need not be designated by the household. Examples are the Beneficiary Data Exchange (BENDEX) and the State Data Exchange (SDX) and records of another agency where a routine access agreement exists (such as records from DOL Unemployment Compensation section).