340:10-3-57 Special considerations

(a) Parent receiving or applying for State Supplemental Payment (SSP) for the aged, blind, or disabled. Oklahoma Human Services (OKDHS) Adult and Family Services (AFS) staff must not concurrently include a person in a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) assistance unit and SSP for the same month. The person may be in the TANF assistance unit while an application is pending for SSP or Supplemental Security Income (SSI) when all eligibility requirements are met. (1) When a parent lives in the home, receives SSP, and is not in the TANF benefit, eligibility staff does not consider the parent's income or resources as available to the TANF assistance unit. (2) When a parent becomes ineligible for SSP and does not receive SSI, eligibility staff considers the parent's income, resources, and deprivation status in determining TANF eligibility for the assistance unit and the parent. (A) When adding the parent and his or her income causes the TANF assistance unit to be over income per OKDHS Appendix C-1, Maximum Income, Resource, and Payment Standards, Schedule IX, eligibility staff closes the TANF and medical benefit. (B) When the parent's SSP benefit closed because of an overall Social Security increase, staff may not add the parent to the TANF benefit. Eligibility staff places the SSP benefit in Special Medical Status. (3) When a parent becomes ineligible to receive SSP but continues to receive SSI, eligibility staff does not consider the parent's income or resources as available to the TANF assistance unit. The parent must complete a separate SoonerCare (Medicaid) application to continue receiving medical benefits. (b) Concurrent receipt of TANF and SSI. Eligibility staff must not concurrently include a person in a TANF benefit who receives an SSI payment for the same month. When a person included in a TANF application or an active TANF benefit meets the eligibility conditions for TANF and SSI, the person may choose to have eligibility determined for TANF or SSI benefits. The payee must inform OKDHS AFS eligibility staff when any member of the assistance unit makes application for, or becomes eligible to receive, SSI. When the payee or a member of the assistance unit makes an application for SSI, the payee must inform the Social Security Administration (SSA) of TANF receipt. (1) When the only dependent child(ren) receives SSI, the natural or adoptive parent(s) or needy caretaker relative may receive an adult-only TANF benefit when all other eligibility factors are met. (2) When a TANF applicant is also an SSI applicant, he or she may be in the TANF benefit, when eligible, until notified of SSI eligibility. (3) When a TANF recipient is an SSI applicant, SSA notifies OKDHS of SSI eligibility to coordinate closure of the person's TANF benefit and approval of SSI and requests the amount of TANF benefits paid for each month of SSI eligibility. When the actual closure date is later than the date given orally to SSA, TANF payments to SSI recipients are TANF overpayments that must be recouped, per Oklahoma Administrative Code (OAC) 340:65-9. (4) When a TANF recipient is determined ineligible for SSI, the person may continue in the TANF assistance unit when all other conditions of eligibility are met. (5) When a TANF recipient is determined ineligible for SSI for reasons other than a disability determination, the person may be in a SSP cash assistance benefit instead of TANF, when determined disabled by the Oklahoma Health Care Authority (OHCA) Level of Care Evaluation Unit, per OAC 317:35-5-4(1)(D). (c) Concurrent receipt of state and tribal TANF. Eligibility staff must not concurrently include a person in a tribal TANF payment and a state approved TANF benefit in the same month. When the person meets the criteria of a tribal TANF service area and population, the entire assistance unit must be served by tribal TANF. When the household moves out of the tribe's service area, eligibility staff coordinates certification of state TANF benefits. (d) Concurrent receipt of TANF in more than one state. A person must not receive a TANF benefit from Oklahoma and another state for the same month. (e) Stepparent or spouse of needy caretaker income. When a stepparent or the needy caretaker's spouse lives in the home with the child(ren) applying for or receiving TANF, eligibility staff counts a portion of his or her verified gross earned and unearned income, after all applicable TANF income disregards and work-related expenses are subtracted, as income available to the assistance unit. To determine the amount to consider, eligibility staff: (1) subtracts the work-related expense, one-half of the remaining gross earned income, and any dependent care expense from the stepparent's or spouse of a needy caretaker's earned income per OAC 340:10-3-33; (2) adds the net earned income to the gross unearned income of the stepparent or the spouse of a needy caretaker; (3) subtracts the need standard for the appropriate number of persons per OKDHS Appendix C-1, Maximum Income, Resource, and Payment Standards, Schedule IX.A. The need standard includes: (A) the stepparent or needy caretaker's spouse; and (B) any dependents not included in the assistance unit but who: (i) live in the home; and (ii) can be claimed on the personal income taxes of the stepparent or needy caretaker's spouse; and (4) subtracts the verified alimony and child support payments to persons outside of the household to arrive at the stepparent's contribution to the assistance unit; and (5) adds the contribution of the stepparent or spouse of a needy caretaker's to all other gross income of persons included in the TANF assistance unit to determine eligibility. (f) Stepparent or spouse of a needy caretaker resources. Eligibility staff does not consider resources owned exclusively by the stepparent or spouse of a needy caretaker to determine the assistance unit's resource eligibility but does consider the assistance unit's share of resources owned jointly with the stepparent or spouse of a needy caretaker. (g) Parent(s) of a minor parent. When a minor parent lives with his or her natural or adoptive parent(s) and the needs of the parent(s) are not included in the assistance unit, the: (1) parent's income is available to the assistance unit and computed the same as stepparent income, per (e) of this Section. The parent of the minor parent may or may not be designated as the substitute payee for the assistance unit; and (2) income of a minor parent's stepparent is not considered. (h) Allocating or diverting income. When family members are not included in the assistance unit, eligibility staff follows these rules to determine the income available to the assistance unit. (1) Income received by a person included in the assistance unit is not allocated or diverted to persons who are not in the assistance unit. All countable unearned and earned income of the person is considered available to the assistance unit. (2) Eligibility staff includes the net income of an alien parent excluded from the benefit because the citizenship or alienage requirement is the same as stepparent income, per (e) of this Section. Eligibility staff does not include the income of disqualified alien siblings when determining eligibility of an otherwise eligible child(ren). (3) Eligibility staff includes the net income of a fugitive felon who has been excluded from the benefit and uses the stepparent income procedures, per (e) of this Section, to determine the countable amount. (i) Benefit reduction as a result of program violation. The TANF benefit is reduced by 25 percent of the payment standard when a determination of program violation is made. The 25 percent penalty is removed the next effective date when compliance is documented or the penalty time period ends. When multiple types of program violations occur, a 25 percent penalty of the payment standard is imposed for each type of violation. When the benefit reduction causes existing income to exceed the benefit amount, the case is closed using the reason for the benefit reduction. The amount of the payment standard reduction applies as Food Stamp Penalty Income (FSPI) in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) per OAC 340:50-7-29(c)(1)(A). Reasons for benefit reduction are: (1) refusal to cooperate in an effort to obtain child support per OAC 340:10-10-5(c); (2) failure to apply for or provide a Social Security number per OAC 340:10-12-1; (3) failure of a child(ren) in kindergarten to 18 years of age to attend school per OAC 340:10-13-1; (4) failure to provide verification of child(ren) immunizations per OAC 340:10-14-1; and (5) intentional program violations determined as fraud by court action or an administrative disqualification hearing or administrative hearing waiver per OAC 340:65-9-2(d) and 340:65-9-4. (j) Benefit reduction penalty resulting from use of the TANF benefit in a prohibited business. Per Section 608(a)(12) of Title 42 of the United States Code and Section 241.4 of Title 56 of Oklahoma Statutes, TANF recipients must not use a debit or electronic benefit transfer (EBT) card containing TANF cash assistance in prohibited businesses. Refer to OAC 340:10-1-3(13) for a list of prohibited businesses and the definition of an EBT transaction. (1) When the parent or caretaker has violated provisions per OAC 340:10-1-3(h), eligibility staff reduces the TANF cash assistance payment standard by: (A) 25 percent for three months for the first violation; (B) 35 percent for six months for the second violation; (C) 50 percent for 12 months for the third violation; and (D) permanently by deeming the parent or needy caretaker ineligible for TANF benefits for subsequent violations. (2) When the parent or needy caretaker is permanently ineligible to receive TANF cash assistance for this reason and all other factors of eligibility are met, he or she may receive child-only benefits. The ineligible parent's earned and unearned income counts in its entirety. (3) The amount of the penalty reduction applies as FSPI for SNAP per OAC 340:50-7-29(c)(1)(A). (k) TANF eligibility when the child(ren) is placed in out-of-home care. When Child Welfare Services (CWS) staff removes the child(ren) from the home and reasonably anticipates the child(ren) will return home within four months, the natural or adoptive parent or needy caretaker relative may continue to receive an adult-only TANF benefit per OAC 340:10-3-56(a)(2)(B)(ii). The adult remains eligible when all other conditions of eligibility are met unless the child(ren) is placed with a relative requesting needy caretaker benefits. The child(ren) must be removed from the TANF benefit effective the next advance notice deadline date per Appendix B-2, Deadlines for Case Actions. (1) A team consisting of eligibility staff, CWS specialist, natural or adoptive parent or needy caretaker relative, and any other appropriate partner must meet to develop a mutually agreed upon plan of action. The plan must include the parent or needy caretaker's employability plan and strategies to correct the conditions that caused the child(ren) to be removed from the home. (2) At the end of the four-month period when the child(ren) does not return to the home, the adult-only TANF benefit must close. (l) Strikers. The assistance unit is not eligible for TANF for any month the natural or adoptive parent living in the home participates in a strike on the last day of that month. Staff does not include a caretaker relative in the benefit when that person is participating in a strike on the last day of the month.