1 37.31 Eligibility

Caseworkers will not be able to open TCA. When a TANF case is closing the system will evaluate the case record and TCA will either be opened or not. To be eligible for TCA at TANF closure the following conditions must be met:

The budget group is still meeting all non-financial requirements for TANF e.g. resources, TANF child, deprivation;

A TANF cash budget that has an SSI child is system evaluated for TCA eligibility;

ES Parents/SSI Recipients;

One-parent household: A single parent must be an ES to qualify for TCA. A single parent who is an SSI recipient is not considered an ES and, therefore, the TANF budget will not be system evaluated for TCA.

Two-parent household : In a two-parent household with one parent who receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI), if the other parent is an ES, the TANF budget will be system evaluated for TCA.

Income exceeds the TANF limit;

There is earned income in the budget; and

The budget group is meeting the WPR for their circumstances.

TANF budgets that will be evaluated by eCIS for TCA will be coded C/U 00, 06, 07, 08, 09, 53, 57, 58 or 59. eCIS will also be looking for the following income codes: 1-13, 15-26, 29, 31-34. If these conditions are not met, TCA will not be opened.

NOTE : Currently eCIS logic will complete a systems evaluation of eligibility for TCA if a TANF recipient has an ETP Status Code 53 or 60. It will not automatically evaluate and determine TCA eligibility if a TANF recipient has an ETP Status Code 52 or 54. If the budget group will be meeting the WPR for their circumstances and the earned income exceeds the TANF limit, the CAO must change the TANF individuals ETP status code to 60 before entering the wage data into eCIS. This will allow eCIS to determine/evaluate that the TANF budget qualifies for three months of TCA.

If the budget group is not eligible for TCA, the system will continue thru the cascade to determine what benefits the budget group may be eligible for.

TANF budgets with sanctioned or disqualified individuals (eligibility status D*/N*) are not eligible for TCA.

To qualify for TCA, a Specified Relative must be included as an eligible member of the TANF cash budget group. Single parent households where the parent is an SSI recipient are ineligible for TCA .

When the system has opened a TCA budget the proper 685 notices will automatically be issued. For notice text, see 137.36 .

If the budget group is eligible for TMA , notice 685 Option A will be issued and a C/U 71 budget will be opened with a future close date.

Budget members are not required to report changes during TCA.

When a TCA budget is opened, eCIS will close all absent relative screens and assign all child support being collected back to the family.

TCA will have no effect on Extended SNAP. In cases with no Extended SNAP, TCA payments will be counted as unearned income when determining SNAP eligibility and payment amounts.