340:10-20-1 Diversion Assistance (DA)

(a) Scope. Applicants with a minor child(ren) may apply for a onetime DA payment instead of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).There must be an immediate crisis need prohibiting the parent(s) or caretaker(s) from accepting a validemployment offer or endangering the parent's or caretaker's current employment.DA is based on funding availability. (1) DA does not pay fines, traffic fines, or any cost related to a criminal offense, such as legal fees, court costs, or reinstatement of a driver license due to driving under the influence or other criminal traffic violations. (2) DA is not to reimburse expenses already paid by the family or others. (3) Before approving DA, the worker must determine if a DA payment will allow the family to be self-sufficient for the next 12 months. An applicant may only receive DA once in the applicant's lifetime after February 1, 2022, and when approved, the family may not receive a TANF cash assistance payment for 12 months. (A) A DA payment does not count toward the family's 60-month time limit for receiving a TANF cash assistance benefit. (B) Any family that includes an adult who already reached the 60-month time limit is not eligible for DA. (4) Regardless of a change in caretaker, a child may only receive DA once during their childhood. If a child begins living with another caretaker after receiving DA, the child is excluded from DA eligibility with any other caretaker. (5) OKDHS does not includefamilies approved for DA in the number of persons reported for TANF federal participation rates. (b) Application filing. Applicants must sign and submit an application and be interviewed, per Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC) 340:65-3-1(b) through (d) to apply for DA. . (1) In signing the application, an applicant agrees to not apply for TANF for at least one year from the DA application date. In two-parent families, both parents must sign the application. (2) A stepparent may be included in the benefit when the couple is legally married. (3) To be timely, the worker must process a DA application within seven-business days. (c) Eligibility criteria. The family must meet the eligibility criteria described in (1) through (7) of this subsection to qualify for DA. (1) The applicant must verify that the applicant is employed or has a bona fide offer of employment. (2) There must be a financial need that, if not met, could cause the applicant to lose employment or not be able to accept an employment offer. (3) An adult(s) must be included in the DA application and must meet the specified degree of relationship to the minor child(ren) included in the application, per OAC 340:10-9-1. (4) The family's monthly gross income may not exceed the gross income maximum, per Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) Appendix C-1, Maximum Income, Resource, and Payments Standards, Schedule XVI, for the appropriate family size. (5) The family's resources may not exceed the resource limits, per OKDHS Appendix C-1, Schedule XVI. (6) The applicant must furnish or apply for a Social Security number, per OAC 340:65-3-1(f). (7) The family must meet citizenship and alienage requirements, per OAC 340:10-15 and OAC 340:65-3-1(g). (d) DA payment amount. The maximum DA payment is equal to four months of the payment standard, per OKDHS Appendix C-1, Schedule XVI, for the appropriate family size based on the family's financial need. DA payments may be issued in more than one authorization to purchase or other approved method when the request for additional funds is made within 120-calendar days of the initial application date, and the total payments do not exceed four times the monthly payment standard for the family size.