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BEM 200 4 of 5 FAMILY INDEPENDENCE SPECIALIST PHILOSOPHY AND FAMILY CONTRACT BPB 2019-006 4-1-2019
BRIDGES ELIGIBILITY MANUAL STATE OF MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES
This discussion will provide an opportunity for you to provide positive feedback and compliments. It will increase participation and involve the entire family in the plan to support each other. Inform them of the Tuition Incentive Program and other educational opportunities that are available for children to attend college if applicable. • Ask what personal and community resources they know of that may be available to help the family remove their challenges and concerns, meet their goals, and move toward self- sufficiency. If the client does not know about community resources, help them develop a plan that will teach them to find these resources. • Discuss child care arrangements that the parent has made for care of the children while the parent is employed, child care arrangements during school breaks, and back-up plans for child care if the provider is ill or otherwise unable to care for the children. • Explain the Federal Earned Income Tax Credit and how receiving this credit throughout the year can increase monthly income. Help them find out how to apply for the credit. • Discuss how to access the advanced education and training opportunities that are available for persons meeting the participation requirements. • Discuss support services that are available while persons are participating in employment-related activities. • Discuss the children and their adjustment to having the parent employed or otherwise out of the home and participating in employment-related activities. • The children and their relationship to a stepparent or other adult living in the home can also be a topic of discussion and planning with the parent. • Let clients know there are family and/or community support groups that are available in cases of emergencies. For ineligible grantee cases, the focus of the interview should be a discussion about the children and resources that may be available to the family and/or the ineligible grantee, for example,