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1000.10 TANF MANUAL 10/18 PAGE 27

1000.10 TERMINATION OF TANF BENEFITS

If a mandatory participant fails to report for his initial assessment, or refuses, without good cause, to sign the VIEW Agreement of Personal Responsibility, the household's TANF benefits will be terminated. Note: If a non-parent caretaker who is receiving TANF assistance fails to report for his initial assessment, or refuses, without good cause, to sign the VIEW Agreement of Personal Responsibility, the non-parent caretaker’s needs will be removed from the TANF payment and the TANF case will remain open as a child-only case.

A. Notice of Termination Procedures

1) If the participant does not appear for the interview, the ESW must attempt to contact the client verbally. If the ESW determines from the contact that the participant did not have good cause for missing the appointment, or if the ESW is unable to contact the client verbally, the ESW must take action to begin the termination process. Based on agency procedures, the ESW will either send the client the VIEW Notice of Sanction/Termination (032-02-0307) or the Advance Notice of Proposed Action (ANPA) within 3 business days of the missed appointment. Alternately, the ESW will immediately notify the EW who will send the ANPA within 3 business days of receipt of the notification.

2) The Advance Notice of Proposed Action will inform the participant that she failed to meet the specific requirement and that in order to establish good cause the participant must contact the ESW within 10 days from the date of the notice to discuss the reasons for the claim of good cause. Merely contacting the EW or ESW does not constitute good cause. The Notice will inform the participant that her TANF benefits will be terminated if good cause does not exist. If the participant contacts the ESW within the 10-day grace period (with or without good cause) and is given another initial assessment appointment date, the appointment date will be documented in the record. If a new appointment letter is sent, it should state that the termination will be imposed if that appointment is not kept. A new Advance Notice of Proposed Action is not required.

3) If the participant fails to contact the ESW within 10 days to establish good cause or does contact the worker but does not present good cause, the EW will proceed to terminate the household’s TANF benefits. The ESW must complete a new communication form, and a copy must be sent to the EW to stop the termination, if the client presents acceptable documentation of good cause for the non-compliance.

4) The ESW will not enter the termination in the ESP module in VaCMS until after the effective date of the termination of TANF benefits.

B. Documentation For Failure To Report For The Initial Assessment

1) The ESW will notify the participant of the scheduled interview.

2) If the participant fails to keep the appointment, the ESW must document the failure in the contact log.

3) The ESW must document in the contact log that a telephone call or personal contact was attempted.

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