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COMBINED MANUAL

ISSUE DATE 12/2014

180 TO 60 DAYS BEFORE MFIP CLOSES

0011.30.06

MFIP: The Department (DHS) recommends that counties take the following steps when setting up and conducting the case review and face-to-face meetings required 180 to 60 days prior to the end of the participant’s 60th month on MFIP.

1. COUNTY ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW

Prior to the face-to-face meeting, staff involved with the participant(s) should meet to review the family’s situation. DHS recommends using a team for the county administrative review and subsequent face-to-face meeting. The team may include the financial worker, job counselor, supervisory staff, social worker, child care worker, psychologist, vocational specialist, family violence advocate, or anyone else involved with the participant, provided that the participant has signed the necessary consent forms.

Consider the following:

● Is the participant in the Family Stabilization Services (FSS) service track? If so, does the participant still meet the eligibility criteria and is the documentation used to make the determination still up-to-date?

● What conditions exist that affect the participant’s progress toward self-sufficiency?

● Is the participant currently in compliance? What is the sanction history for this case?

● What services is the family currently receiving? Are there any other service options that should be considered, such as subsidized employment?

● Is the participant’s employment plan still appropriate?

● Does the participant meet an exemption to participation with Employment Services because the household includes a child under 12 months and they have not exhausted the 12-month lifetime limit?

● Is the participant aware of options for stopping the clock?

● Is there an extension for which the participant might qualify?

● What resources might be available to the family if MFIP ends?

● Has the number of TANF months been correctly counted?

NOTE: This list is NOT meant to be all-inclusive.

2. APPOINTMENT LETTER

Send a letter to ask the participant to call for an appointment for the face-to-face meeting or to notify the participant that a meeting has been scheduled.

If you do not hear from the participant, make AT LEAST 2 more attempts to reach the participant, using other approaches, such as phone calls or home visits. Document these attempts in both case notes and person notes.

3. FACE-TO-FACE MEETING

Meet and discuss the items on your county 60-Month Planning Checklist. The county is required to attempt to hold a face-to- face meeting for the benefit of the participant. Although “attempting to meet face-to-face” is a requirement for the county, it is not an eligibility requirement for MFIP participants.

The face-to-face meetings provide: