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2 STATE PLAN Outline of The General Provisions of Its Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Program (a) The State intends to do the following: Conduct a program, designed to serve all political subdivisions in the State (not necessarily in a uniform manner), that provides assistance to needy families with (or expecting) children and promotes individual responsibility and family independence. The primary component of such program will be entitled the Family Assistance (FA) program. The State will fulfill these goals by conforming to the program policy provisions described herein.

All of the following determinations made as of September 30, 1996, in regard to any individual AFDC recipient shall continue to apply to that recipient under the TANF program: i. State hearing decisions and any court decisions based thereon ii. Overpayments and recoupments iii. Disqualifications, sanctions, and occurrences iv. Child support arrearages or collections assigned to the State v. Time limited income disregards vi. Accrued months of assistance underlying any claim for transitional Medicaid (MA) and child care 2. Section 407of the Social Security Act requires a parent or caretaker receiving assistance under the program to engage in work (as defined by the State) once the State determines the parent or caretaker is ready to engage in work, or once the parent or caretaker has received assistance under the program for 24-months (whether or not consecutive), whichever is earlier. New York will fulfill this goal by requiring all individuals to be assessed and assigned to work, with certain limited exemptions from federally countable work activity requirements, provided that there is no exemption from the 24-month work requirement. i. The following are the only exemptions from federally countable work activities: a. Single custodial parents caring for children who have not attained six years of age, and the individuals prove that they have a demonstrated inability (as determined by the State) to obtain needed child care, for one or more of the following reasons: I. Unavailability of appropriate child care within a reasonable distance from the individual’s home or work site; II. Unavailability or unsustainability of informal child care by a relative or under other arrangements;