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LEGAL BASE The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, P.L. 104-193 (PRWORA), and the Mississippi Code of 1972, Annotated, at 43-17-5 and in Title 43, Chapter 19, Support of Natural Children, mandates that the State operate a Child Support Enforcement Program and that receipt of TANF benefits is conditional upon the cooperation of the parent(s) or other caretaker relative with Child Support Enforcement requirements. Based upon these statutory requirements: ∙ The parent or caretaker relative must assign support rights to the State on behalf of any family member for whom the family applies or who receives TANF benefits, including TWP transportation services. ∙ TANF benefits will be denied or terminated for the entire assistance unit for failure without good cause to cooperate with the Division of Child Support Enforcement to establish paternity of a child born out of wedlock and/or to obtain child support. The Division of Child Support Enforcement will determine whether there is good cause for failure to cooperate. ∙ The noncooperating adult will be disqualified from the food stamp case. This sanction applies whether the adult is the PI of a combination TANF/food stamp case or participates in someone else’s Food Stamp Program. ASSIGNMENT OF RIGHTS TO SUPPORT The TANF applicant must, as a condition of eligibility, assign support rights to the State for all individuals in the TANF assistance budget. Acceptance of the TANF money payment constitutes assignment of support rights. For families already receiving court-ordered or voluntary support payments, this means that the support received must be paid directly to the Child Support Enforcement Office by the TANF caretaker/custodial parent until the court order is modified to direct the payments to the IV-D Office or the absent parent voluntarily redirects the payments for collection and distribution. The assignment of support rights to the State is included in the MDHS-EA-312, Personal Responsibility Contract, and in the MDHS-EA-941, Notice of Child Support Enforcement, which the applicant signs at intake to acknowledge awareness of child support requirements. If the applicant refuses to sign the MDHS-EA-941, the worker will document the reasons and the individual’s explanation in the case record and continue the eligibility determination process. The worker must explain that the requirements for child support cooperation are still in effect although the 941 was not signed and that failure to cooperate without good cause will result in sanction. COOPERATION WITH CHILD SUPPORT ENFORCEMENT Cooperation with child support enforcement means that the applicant/recipient must act in good

MISSISSIPPI [ NON - FINANCIAL CRITERIA: CHILD SUPPORT] Revised 08 - 01 - 06