Policy Effective: September 1, 2015

To be eligible for Specified Relative Financial assistance, the household must contain an eligible child.

Both of the child’s parents must be absent from the specified relative’s home.

The child must be living with the specified relative and not just visiting. A visit has a temporary purpose such as school attendance, vacation, summer employment, medical treatment, etc. If the child's parents receive Financial assistance in Utah and their child lives with the specified relative for a temporary reason, the child must remain on the parents' Financial assistance case.

In the case of a temporary absence of the only adult specified relative caregiver in the household and the minor dependent(s) are not leaving the home with the caregiver, the minor dependent(s) on the case must be left under the supervision of another adult or the Financial case will be closed.

If the minor dependent(s) are left in the care of a parent, the specified relative Financial program will close.

A relative who has a specific relationship to a child in the home may apply for Financial assistance for that child. The following relatives meet the specific relationship to the child:

Grandfather or grandmother

Brother or sister

Uncle or aunt

First cousin

First cousin once removed (a first cousin's child)

Nephew or niece

Persons of preceding generations as designated by prefixes of grand-, great-, great-great, or great-great-great

Spouses of any relative mentioned above even if the marriage has been terminated

Persons that meet any of the above mentioned relationships by means of a step relationship such as stepbrothers and stepsisters.

Brothers and sisters by legal adoption

Individuals who can prove that they met one of the above mentioned relationships via a blood relationship even though the legal relationship has been terminated

Ex-stepparents

Native American adult who has a Native American child placed in, or living in that adult's home and both the child and the adult are members of a federally recognized tribe or are eligible for membership in a federally recognized tribe.

The adult and child do not need to be members or eligible for membership in the same federally recognized tribe.

An adult of the same ethnicity, culture, country or origin, religion, language, and/or nationality as the refugee/asylee child in their care.

Only the child must have a current refugee/asylee status.

A half-sibling who lives in the same home with an eligible child who does not have a legal or blood relationship to the relative, may be included in the Financial assistance unit with the eligible child at the option of the relative if the half-sibling is otherwise eligible. This is due to the blood relationship of the half-sibling to the eligible child. Step-siblings who have only a legal relationship to the child are not eligible to be included in the Financial grant if they do not have a blood or legal relationship to the adult relative.

Stepparents and natural parents whose parental rights (legal relationship) were terminated by court order do not meet Specified Relative relationships. They are considered under Family Employment Program (FEP) or FEP Two-Parent (FEP-TP)P policy.

If there is a court order removing the child from the parent's home, any obligations specified by the court must be observed. Office of Recovery Services (ORS) must be informed that there is a court order involved, and any special handling that may be required. See section 305-1 for more information on Duty of Support requirements with ORS.

Eligibility is not based solely on a court order that awards physical custody to the specified relative. If the child is actually living with the parents, the specified relative is not eligible for assistance for the child.

If the parents can be located and/or contacted, Form 544, Statement of Non-Support must be completed to determine if they are supporting their child. Contacts and responses of the parents must be narrated in the case record. If the parents cannot be located, the attempts made to locate them must be narrated in the case record.

If the parents indicate they would be willing to support the child if the child returned to their home, the child is ineligible unless there is a court order that has removed the child from the parent's home. In a situation where the minor runs the risk of returning to abusive or neglectful parents, a referral to the Division of Child and Family Services must be made.

Any support actually available to the child must be considered.

If the parents are providing and amount of support equal to or greater than the monthly Financial assistance issued on the case, the child is ineligible.

If the parents provide support less than the monthly Financial assistance amount for the case, the support is considered child support. See section 425-20 for policy on how child support income is to be counted.

If the child is eligible, household composition is determined in one of the following ways:

If the specified relative is already a FEP recipient, the child will be added to the existing case.

If the specified relative is not a FEP recipient, and does not want to be included on the Financial assistance, the Financial assistance will be based on the eligible children.

If the specified relative is not currently a FEP recipient, and wants to be included on the Financial case, the following must be determined:

If the specified relative's household meets all FEP eligibility requirements with the presence of this eligible child, open a case that includes everyone in the household.

If the specified relative wants to be included in the Financial assistance payment but their household cannot meet the requirements for FEP assistance, the specified relative may be included on the Financial assistance with the child. To be included the specified relative:

Must request assistance for himself or herself. In this situation the relative’s spouse and children cannot be included on this Financial assistance.

Must meet all other eligibility requirements, such as resources, income, participation requirements, change reporting, not participating in a strike, etc. See policy 401-3 for policy on income for specified relatives.