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with Dependent Children (AFDC) Relatedness Criteria.

b. Room and Board Watchful Oversight

Room and Board and Watchful Oversight (RBWO) is the name for foster care placements (out- of-home care) with private foster care providers, such as licensed Child Placing Agencies (CPAs) and Child Caring Institutions (CCIs). Private contributions assist the RBWO program and are used to pay for services for some children in RBWO placements. The funds are also used to contract with community-based organizations to provide employment training, housing assistance, social skills training, and after-school program activities in order for eligible families to obtain self-sufficiency. Eligibility criteria: A family’s income must be below the State Standard of Need or must be eligible for TANF. (Source: Georgia’s COSTAR manual).

Two types of Room and Board Watchful Oversight are funded by TANF:

• Initial TANF RBWO: Institutional Foster Care Per Diem and other placement- related services expended from the date of placement for a maximum of 6 months, • Initial TANF RBWO: Privately Supervised FFC – Licensed and Approved Private Foster Care Agencies Per Diem and other placement-related services may be charged from the date of placement for a maximum of 6 months.

*See Appendix C for AFDC State plan excerpt.

Placement for Institutional Foster Care and Privately Supervised FFC are paid from state funds if placement-related services extend beyond 6 months.

3. Non-Assistance

Non-assistance is also provided to needy families. Non-assistance is benefits or services that do not count toward the 48-month lifetime limit on receipt of TANF because they do not meet the TANF definition of “assistance.” Georgia has chosen the option of defining a “needy family” for each category of non-TANF assistance.

Non-assistance includes:

• Payments designed to remedy a specific crisis situation that are not intended to deal with ongoing basic needs and cannot continue for more than four calendar months. • Work subsidies (e.g., payments to employers or to third parties to help cover the costs of employee wages, benefits, supervision, and training). • Certain support services. • Contributions to, and distributions from, Individual Development Accounts (IDAs) • Services that do not provide basic income support. • Transportation assistance provided under a job access or reverse commute project to an individual who is not receiving other assistance.