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Iowa’s TANF State Plan

9  All mandatory PROMISE JOBS participants must cooperate with PROMISE JOBS and complete a Family Investment Agreement (FIA) as described in (1)(A)(ii) as a condition of eligibility.

 All households filing an application for FIP program benefits on or after November 1, 2004, must have an FIA signed before FIP approval, as a condition of eligibility.  If a parent fails to sign an FIA, the entire family is ineligible for FIP.  If a referred person who is not a parent fails to sign an FIA, only that person is ineligible.

 Effective September 2004, any family that contains a member enrolled in an educational program leading to a degree beyond a bachelor’s degree is not eligible for FIP.

 Each member must cooperate with the Iowa Department of Inspections, Appeals, and Licensing (DIAL) when referred by the Iowa HHS for investigation.

 When the parent of the dependent child is under age 18, never married (or the marriage was annulled), the minor parent must live with an adult parent or a legal guardian, or establish good cause for not living with an adult parent or legal guardian.

 People whose needs are met by any other public assistance program administered by the Iowa HHS or another state, including IV-E or state-funded foster care, Kinship Caregiver Funds, or who receive SSI, must be excluded from the eligible group.

 People participating in a strike are ineligible. If the striker is a parent, the entire family is ineligible.

 Iowa will not use TANF or state maintenance of effort (MOE) funds to provide FIP to any family that has received FIP assistance for 60 months (whether or not consecutive) as described at 45 CFR 264.1(a) and (b), unless the family qualifies for an extension under the option described at 45 CFR 264.1(c).

 In the case of a child living with a parent or the parent's spouse, the entire family that does not qualify for an extension is ineligible for FIP after the parent or spouse has received FIP for 60 months.

 In the case of a child living with a non-parental caretaker relative, the non-parental caretaker relative, who is not eligible for an extension, is removed from the FIP grant after receiving FIP for 60 months, but the caretaker may continue to receive FIP for the child.

Parents excluded from the FIP grant are not subject to the federal limits described at 45 CFR 264.1(a) and (b). However, Iowa’s state time limit of 60 months and extension provisions do apply to families including such excluded parents. Iowa considers any parent living in the home of a FIP child to be a "recipient of assistance" for purposes of the state 60-month limitation even when the parent's needs are not included in the FIP grant. Therefore, the entire family that does not qualify for an extension is ineligible for FIP after the parent has received FIP for 60 months regardless of whether the parent is or is not on the grant. However, any month that the parent receives Supplemental Security