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07 3. Or, if the family is found and the children are eligible, authorize the benefit and continue TANF. Cannot Locate - TANF Child When a child leaves home and his whereabouts are unknown, obtain all the information possible from the parent or other relative and assist him if he wishes in trying to locate the child. 1. Allow 30 days in which to locate the child. Record all efforts made in the case record. 2. Continue the TANF benefit in the same amount while the investigation is being made. 3. If the child returns home during the investigation and there is no change in the budgetary deficit, the case need not be reworked unless a redetermination is due. 4. If at the end of the investigation period the child has not been found, or if found and determined ineligible, remove him from the TANF benefit, giving the payee time to respond to the advance notice. NOTE: The law now requires the parent or caretaker relative to report within five (5) days when it becomes clear to the household that the child(ren) has left the home or when the child(ren) will be absent from the home for more than (30) days. The law also stipulates that the parent or needy caretaker who fails to meet this five day time limit for reporting that a child has left the home be penalized by serving a disqualification period for failing to timely report. See Chapter 7, Reporting Requirements When a Child Leaves the Home. Approval for Assistance by Another State When a payee has been approved for assistance for the children in another state and it is not possible to terminate his assistance here simultaneously with his initial assistance in the other state, stop his TANF benefit for the month in which his assistance there is effective. If the county learns of the approval too late to terminate benefits and the children do receive assistance from both states for the same month, ask the payee to return the Mississippi TANF benefit. A claim must be processed so that a demand for refund can be made. Please note that Mississippi is one of the few states that pays in advance in TANF; that is, on the first of each month for that month. Advance Notice Given Before Release of the Next Benefit When the ten day advance notice on closure of a case will expire after the deadline for the current payroll month but prior to the last day of the month, MAVERICS will not issue a TANF benefit for the next month if the case is in FROZEN status at rollover.

Volume III Chapter 7 MISSISSIPPI

[ELIGIBILITY DETERMINATION PROCESS: CORRECTIVE AUTHORIZATION PROCEDURES] Revised 04-01- 7201