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TANF POLICY MANUAL

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Teen parent/adults (TA’s) must average 20 hours per week in education directly related to employment or be satisfactorily attending secondary school or its equivalent. PATS Coding: Satisfactory participation for TAs should be keyed as 20 hours per week or actual hours if greater than 20 hours.

14.2 Legal Cause Criteria for TANF Work Program Participation The SC Family Independence Act allows certain individuals to claim legal cause for not meeting TANF Work Program participation requirements. Some individuals are included in the TANF work eligible denominator and impact the monthly participation rate. Appropriate case documentation and case management efforts should be used to identify these individuals. They are expected to participate in countable work activities when possible. The Family Plan, must be developed with these individuals. The Case Manager must provide on-going case management to ensure the individual is participating in work activities unless their situation prevents participation.

The following individuals will have legal cause when unable to comply with TANF Work Program requirements listed on the Employability Plan and cannot be sanctioned. NOTE: A staffing should be scheduled to discuss participation and time limits when these individuals fail to comply with work program requirements. Individual’s Status Legal Cause Criteria Only Parent in TANF Family with Child under age one Parent personally providing care for his/her child under age one will be expected to participate, but cannot be sanctioned if this is the only parent in the TANF family, as he/she is protected by legal cause if unable to comply with the TANF Work Requirements. As long as the single parent has a child under one, he/she is eligible to be excluded from the TANF participation rate calculation for 12 months in a lifetime. A parent personally providing care for his/her child under one will always be coded PW on the CHIP EMPR screen, regardless if he/she is excluded from the TANF Participation Rate or not. This does not apply to a Young Custodial Parent (YCP). The CHIP EMPR screen will be coded “PC” if the YCP has a child under age one.

Pregnant Verified pregnancy beginning in the seventh month and continuing until six weeks after the birth of the child. Incapacitated Incapacitated or disabled and unable to participate in TANF work activities. The verified incapacity must be total and expected to last 90 days or more.

Required in the home to care for incapacitated Parent providing care for a disabled family member living in the home. A medical statement from a physician must verify the need for care.