Page 101
When the parental rights of a parent are terminated, that parent cannot be a specified relative unless there is another specified relationship to the child. For example, a child could be adopted by grandparents. The child and the birth parent would become siblings which is another specified relationship.
A guardian may receive assistance ONLY when such person is a relative listed above AND the child lives with that person. 2420.05.05 VERIFICATION OF RELATIONSHIP (C)
The policy stated in this section only applies to Two-Parent TANF and Regular TANF.
It is the responsibility of the applicant/recipient to assist the eligibility worker to verify the degree of relationship between a child and a specified relative. Verifications are required for each link in the relationship chain. For instance, the child’s parentage and their parent’s parentage would be needed to establish the relationship of a child to the grandparent. When conducting a redetermination, staff must ensure that all relationships between a child and relatives (especially the child and specified relative) are properly verified and documented within the case.
The relationship of a child to a relative listed in the previous section, except for an alleged father, is verified when the eligibility worker either: • Sees the child's birth certificate (data exchange interface with the Department of Health is equivalent to the Birth Certificate), or • Obtains verification from two of the sources listed below, when the birth certificate is not seen: o Hospital records established at the time of birth (including a hospital issued birth certificate); o Physician's records; o Marriage records; o Court records, including adoption records; o Social Security Administration records; o Church documents, such as baptismal certificates; o Passport; o Immigration records; o Naturalization records; o School records; o Records of social agencies (including the Local Office); or o Signed statement from an unrelated reliable person having specific knowledge about the relationship of the child to the specified relative. (written statement from third party must include contact information including phone number of person signing statement ) o For refugee or other eligible non-citizen immigration status applicants, the I-94 will suffice as suitable documentation of familial relationship if there is no birth certificate or related documentation available.