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North Carolina

31 First Manual Section 109, Age Rule for Children; any parent being added to an existing Work First case; parents who have been disqualified due to an Intentional Program Violation (IPV); parents who are ineligible due to fleeing felon and/or parole/probation violator status; parents with a Class H or I controlled substance felony conviction in North Carolina; and custodial parents who receive Work First Family Assistance for their children.

The substance use screening and testing requirement does not apply to: child only cases with a non-parent caretaker as the case head; dependent children; or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) recipients.

Financial Rules

1. Resources that can be readily converted to cash will be counted toward a $3,000 limit. “Readily converted” means the asset can be converted to cash within 5 working days.

2. All vehicles are excluded.

3. To calculate the payment, all income of Work First recipients is counted, except the earnings of children, and the income of SSI recipients, Foster Care Assistance, Adoption Assistance, and the Earned Income Tax Credit, unless other law or regulation excludes an income type.

4. Countable income of all family members included in the case is counted. Income of parents who live in the household and are excluded from the case is counted as if they are included in the case. The exception is that no income of SSI recipients is counted.

5. For unearned income, the actual amount received is the amount counted in calculation of the payment.

6. For earned income, percentages are subtracted from the total monthly gross income as follows:

 27.5% of gross earned income is excluded. 7. Job bonus is awarded to parents with new earnings for three months that each adult recipient has new earnings.  The job bonus is offered to participants whose earned income terminates them from WFFA.  The job bonus applies to new earned income that begins after the application is approved for Work First. The job bonus is applied for employment that is expected to be permanent and income terminates a participant from WFFA.  The job bonus can be applied once in a lifetime for each Work First family who becomes employed.

8. The Work First monthly payment is 50% of the difference between the total countable income and the need standard.