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Vermont TANF State Plan Renewal October 1, 2024 through December 31, 2027 13

adolescent pregnancy, childbirth, adoption, and abortion. As an available supplement to Vermont’s comprehensive health education, the Lund Family Center, a grantee of Vermont’s Department for Children and Families, provides a powerful teen pregnancy prevention program designed to help teens change risky behaviors. The Lund Center’s Pregnancy Prevention Panel visits schools and endeavors to educate other teenagers about the realities of pregnancy and parenting at a young age. The panel members are themselves pregnant or parenting teenagers. A staff member accompanies them to facilitate the discussion and explain the societal and economic impact of teen pregnancy. , Vermont’s Department of Corrections works with sexual offenders to teach them how to accept, understand, modify and maintain permanent changes in behavior relating to illegal sexual behavior, such as statutory rape. This formal program is cognitive-behavioral and delivered primarily in group format, although extensive homework is required. DCF works to identify the correlates to the offense with each individual, to ensure that the specific nature of their offense is addressed.

(a)(1)(A)(vii) Outline how the State intends to implement policies and procedures as necessary to prevent access to assistance provided under any electronic fund transaction in an automated teller machine or point-of-sale device located in a place described in section 408(a)(12), including a plan to ensure that recipients of the assistance have adequate access to their cash assistance.

Participants have access to cash assistance through Electronic Benefits Transfer (EBT) cards or, for participants with a bank account, through direct deposit into their personal bank account. EBT cards are accepted at over 1,000 automated teller machines (ATM) throughout the state and at authorized Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) retailers.

On November 1, 2013, Vermont adopted the following regulation restricting access to assistance through EBT transactions at prohibited locations:

A recipient of a money grant shall not knowingly use or access assistance in any electronic benefit transfer transaction in a:

A. retail establishment which sells exclusively or primarily any alcoholic beverages defined in 7 V.S.A. § 2; B. casino, gambling casino, or gaming establishment; or

C. retail establishment which provides adult-oriented entertainment in which performers disrobe or perform in an unclothed state for entertainment.

A recipient who uses or accesses assistance in any of the above prohibited electronic benefit transfer transactions shall reimburse the department for the amount of assistance used or accessed in the prohibited transaction.

Vermont’s revised food, fuel and financial assistance application includes an acknowledgment in the “Rights and Responsibilities” section that an applicant who is found eligible for Reach Up understands that “withdrawing or spending Reach Up financial assistance is prohibited at the following locations: liquor stores, bars, casinos or other gaming facilities, and retail businesses that provide adult-oriented entertainment in which performers disrobe or perform in an unclothed state.”