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Vermont Department for Children and Families Reach Up Eligibility Rules Economic Services Division 2200 50

a. Reach Up time limits are the maximum number of months a participant may receive Reach Up benefits. b. A Reach Up household shall reach their time limits when a participant has received 60 or more countable, cumulative months of Reach Up benefits, or other cash benefits funded by a TANF block grant in another state. c. Once a Reach Up household reaches their time limits they are ineligible for Reach Up benefits unless each participant in the Reach Up household is fully engaging in Reach Up participant requirements (if applicable) and is: 1. Not able-to-work as defined in Reach Up Services rule 2301; 2. Caring for a child under one year of age;

3. Affected by domestic violence in accordance with Reach Up Services rule 2323.1;

4. Needed in the home on a full-time basis to care for an ill or disabled parent, spouse, or child in accordance with Reach Up Services rule 2323.3; or

5. Engaged in any of the work activities listed in 33 V.S.A. § 1101(28), with the exception of subsection 1101(28)(L).

d. A Reach Up household that does not qualify to continue receiving Reach Up benefits pursuant to subsection (c) may be eligible to continue receiving benefits if the Reach Up program director, or the program director’s designee, determines, on a monthly basis, that each participant in the Reach Up household is actively participating in Reach Up participant requirements (Reach Up Services rule 2311).

e. The monthly time limit count for Reach Up benefits begins on July 1, 2001.

1. Each full or partial month for which a participant receives Reach Up benefits counts toward the 60- month time limit. i. An overpayment of a full month of Reach Up benefits, which has been fully repaid, does not count towards the 60-month limit.

2. A month in which only support services are received by an employed participant does not count toward the 60-month time limit. 3. In a two-parent Reach Up household in which the parents have not received Reach Up benefits for the same number of months, the time limit is based on the participant who has received benefits for the greater number of countable months. 4. Benefits received under the Postsecondary Education (PSE), Reach First, and Reach Ahead programs do not count toward the 60-month limit.

f. A month in which Reach Up benefits are received does not count toward the 60-month time limit if the participant is:

1. not able-to-work as defined in Reach Up Services rule 2301;

2. A parent or caretaker who is caring for a child under one year of age;