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VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES SNAP EMPLOYMENT & TRAINING

10/25 VOLUME V, PART XXV, PAGE 3

1. Pre-Assessment

A pre-assessment may be conducted for any participant due for an initial assessment.

a. If the SNAP E&T worker has sufficient reason to believe that a registrant’s status needs to be reevaluated, this must be communicated to the BPS on the Communication Form or by other appropriate means. The BPS must review the registrant’s status and inform the SNAP E&T worker of the outcome within 30 days. See Appendix II of this Part or Part XXIV for the Communication Form.

b. The pre-assessment may be conducted face-to-face, by mail or by phone.

c. If conducted by mail, the participant must complete and return the pre-assessment form to the agency within 14 calendar days. The SNAP E&T worker must send the registrant a letter that advises:

1. The purpose of the SNAP E&T component;

2. The reason for completing the pre-assessment form and the date by which the form is to be returned to the agency;

3. That failure to complete and return the form by the required date may affect the registrant’s or household’s eligibility for SNAP E&T; and

4. How to contact the SNAP E&T worker if the participant is unable to complete and return the form by the required date.

d. Based on the information provided by the participant on the pre-assessment form, the worker must decide if the participant will be scheduled for an initial assessment. If the decision is to schedule the participant for an initial assessment, this assessment must be scheduled within 30 calendar days of receipt of the original referral.

2. Initial Assessment

a. The SNAP E&T worker must assess each participant within 30 days of receipt of the registration form, even if a Pre-Assessment was completed.

b. The assessment may be a face-to-face interview (individual or group) between the participant and the SNAP E&T worker or by a telephone interview.

c. The SNAP E&T worker must send the participant a letter that provides: • The date of the assessment interview; • An explanation that appearance for the interview is a condition of continued eligibility for SNAP E&T benefits and that the consequence of not attending the interview may be the inability to enroll in SNAP E&T; • Instructions for contacting the SNAP E&T worker; and

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