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Iowa’s TANF State Plan

10 Income (SSI) or is eligible for the exemption described at 45 CFR 264.1(b)(1)(ii) does not count against the 60-month limit.

 An extension of the 60-month limit requires meeting the following criteria:

a. There must be a barrier, that is, an experience or situation preventing the family from being self-supporting. b. The barrier may be the result of a past or current experience or situation that affects current functioning. Current experience may include fear of an event that may or is likely to occur in the future. c. A family may request an extension when the barrier impacts the family’s ability to become self-sufficient; the family is willing to make incremental steps towards that goal; and the family is participating to their maximum potential. d. A family with an FIA-responsible person must be actively making incremental progress towards self-sufficiency in ways that will address the barrier(s) identified for the extension.

 A family must provide supporting evidence of the hardship barrier and the impact of the barrier on the family’s ability to leave FIP.

 A family may request an extension after receiving 58 months of FIP. The extension cannot be granted until the family has reached its 60-month limit. The Iowa HHS income maintenance worker decides if the family is eligible for an extension.

 If a family with an FIA-responsible person is found eligible to receive FIP beyond 60 months, the family and PROMISE JOBS worker together write an FIA for a six- month extension period. There is no limit on the number of six-month extension periods that a family may request, so long as the family continues to meet hardship criteria.

 The FIP goal of personal responsibility was strengthened in January 2007, through an Administrative Rule change that clarified that when a participant is offered PROMISE JOBS activities to overcome a known barrier to self–sufficiency and fails to comply, the participant does not meet hardship criteria to receive FIP beyond 60 months based on that specific barrier.

 For purposes of calculating the 20 percent limit on the number of families allowed an extension to the federal time limit, the state uses the average monthly number of families receiving assistance during the current federal fiscal year. Included in the 20 percent are families that have their FIP benefits continued beyond 60 months while an appeal is pending and other situations where the benefits are subject to overpayment recovery, such as when benefits are continued pending the issuance of timely notice.

 Effective February 1, 2014, as a condition of on-going eligibility, FIP recipients are prohibited from accessing benefits through electronic benefit transactions at automated teller machines or point-of-sale devices at locations specified in Section 408(a)(12) of the Social Security Act. See Section a.(1)(A)(vii) for details.