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TANF POLICY MANUAL

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1. ES Worker Action on Child Support Sanction When the sanction is imposed, code the parent or caretaker relative (if included in the BG) and child DI CS on CHIP screen SEPA. NOTE: If the child for whom assistance is being sought is the child of a minor parent, under the age of 18, and the major parent or caretaker relative is making application for a three- person BG, there are no eligible children if the required information is not provided.

2. Minimum TANF Cash Benefit Reduction When a child support sanction is imposed, the TANF cash benefits will be reduced by a minimum of 25% in accordance with federal guidelines. The reduction is automatically calculated when the sanction is imposed.

3. Third Party Liability Sanction Failure to provide required information about the third-party results in a sanction for the parent/caretaker relative and child(ren) of the AP, unless good cause is established. (See 5.1.8)

4. ES Worker Determination Of Non-Cooperation To determine non-cooperation at application, when adding a newborn, or providing the minimum child support information for a family cap child, the ES Worker must: A. Attempt to secure more information about the AP when the minimum child support information has not been provided by the client. B. Document in the case file the reason given for the lack of information. C. Evaluate the explanation and determine if non-cooperation exists. If non- cooperation does exist, impose the sanction by removing the parent and child(ren) for whom paternity is being sought from the TANF budget.

5. Fair Hearing Requests Fair Hearing requests for failure to provide basic information about the AP are processed by the ES Worker, and the ES Worker will represent DSS at the hearing. Fair Hearing requests based on actions taken by CSSD will be processed by the ES Worker. It will be necessary for the ES Worker to coordinate the completion of the DSS Form 2633, Request for Fair Hearing, with the Parent Locate Specialist (PLS) or the Child Support Specialist who referred the recipient for sanction. The PLS or CSS will represent DSS at the hearing.

6. Blood Test Denies Paternity If the named AP denies paternity and requests a blood test or genetic test, the test results are reported to CSSD. If the results indicate the named AP is not the father, CSSD will allow the recipient to review the test results and to name another AP.

If a new AP is not named, the ES Worker will be notified by CSSD to impose a sanction. If a new AP is named, CSSD will email the ES Worker the following information: 1. Recipient name 2. CHIP number 3. Name of excluded AP 4. Name and date of birth of child