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Iowa’s TANF State Plan

11 Calculating the Grant:

The assistance grant is based on the number of people in the eligible group. The income of people in the eligible group and other people who live in the home whose income must be considered (e.g., excluded parents, ineligible stepparents, and self-supporting parents of a minor parent) after appropriate disregards,must meet Iowa’s income tests. The income and resources of SSI recipients are disregarded.

Income disregards and deductions are the same as those under the prior AFDC program except:

 Effective October 1997, the Work Transition Period (a four-month disregard of earned income for certain long-term unemployed recipients) was eliminated.

 Effective November 10, 1997, Iowa began disregarding all financial assistance for education or training as income and resources.

 The FIP child care disregard was eliminated effective July 1, 1999. FIP recipients and other people whose earned income is considered for FIP are now automatically eligible for state child care assistance without regard to the latter program's eligibility requirements and waiting lists.

 The FIP adult care disregard was eliminated March 1, 2000.

 All income received by temporary Census Bureau workers is disregarded.

 Effective August 1, 2007, the earned income disregard was increased from 50 percent to 58 percent.

Program Benefits, Funding, and Method of Payment:

The assistance grant is issued monthly and may include a separate payment for special needs. Since November 2009, all payments have been issued through an electronic access card (EAC) except when the recipient requests direct deposit; or the Iowa HHS determines it is not practical to issue the payment by EAC.

FIP assistance may be effective as early as seven days from the date of application for any family (including two-parent households since January 1998) who otherwise meets all eligibility requirements.

Iowa’s cash assistance programs are available statewide. The FIP program is funded with commingled TANF and state maintenance of effort (MOE) funds. Iowa’s Family Investment Program (FIP) for Battered Aliens and Two-Parent Families Receiving FIP are funded solely with segregated state MOE funds.

Coordination with Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and Other Programs

The Iowa HHS is cognizant of the critical need that FIP policies and procedures do not interfere with a family's ability to receive benefits and services from other programs such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Staff working with Iowa’s FIP