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Title 7: SNAP Page 2 Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Employees’ Manual Chapter C: Nonfinancial Eligibility Household Composition Revised September 27, 2024 Mandatory Household Members Procedure: Include a child age 21 and under in the parents’ household even if the child routinely buys and fixes food separately from the parent and:  Is married and living with the spouse, or  Is a parent with a child in the home. The term “parent” includes legal, natural, and stepparent. Consider a man the natural father if he:  Was married to the mother at the time of the child’s conception or birth (unless the court has declared this man not to be the father), or  Has been declared by the court to be the father, even though not married to the mother at the time of the child’s conception or birth, or  Claims to be the father, unless the child already has another legal father as described above. For SNAP purposes, the stepparent relationship ends with the death or divorce of the parent.

Mr. V lives with his son Hank, 25, his daughter Wendy, 23, his son Mark, 19, and Mark’s wife Nancy. Because of their conflicting schedules, all buy and fix their food separately. Hank and Wendy can each be a separate SNAP household. However, Mr. V, Mark, and Nancy must be in the same household, because Mark is not over age 21 and Nancy is Mark’s spouse. Children Under Parental Control Legal reference: 7 CFR 273.1(b)(1)(iii), 441 IAC 65.24(234) Policy: Eligible children under age 18 who are living with and under the parental control of another person must be in the same SNAP household as that person. Procedure: Consider a person to be exercising “parental control,” when the person fulfills the role of a parent, financially or otherwise. The person does not have to be related to the child. EXCEPTIONS:  Children are not under parental control if they are married, because state law defines them as adults.  Foster children, along with their spouse or their children living with them, are not required to be in the foster parents’ SNAP household, unless the household chooses to include them.