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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 18
West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 55 Chapter 18 WV WORKS Activities/Requirements
beyond 60 days, the Division of Family Assistance (DFA) may be contacted for additional case management guidance. Certain support payments will be allowable with this component. Every effort must be made to obtain countable hours for these participants (contacting a school for educational hours, anticipating hours from employer statement, contact a provider for substance abuse or mental health treatment, etc.). When there are absolutely no countable participation hours to enter for these participants, a minimum of one hour of OW should be entered and documented in comments for making these contacts to obtain countable participation hours.
The assessment of the Work-Eligible Individual’s goals, skills, needs and challenges naturally centers on the participant. However, any assessment completed must be a family assessment since the participant is part of the family and is often considered head of the family. In addition, making life better for the family can be a motivational factor in the case management process. Assessment is an on-going process that occurs throughout case management. 18.7.5.A Family Assessment A Family Assessment means evaluation of work skills, prior work experience, employability, education, and challenges to become self-sufficient, but not limited to, mental and physical health issues, lack of transportation, and childcare. An in-depth assessment of the participant and his family is necessary to discover the family’s challenges to meeting their goals and to develop plans to overcome them. The assessment is limited to producing information useful to the participant, his family, and the Case Manager in evaluating the participant’s and his family’s challenges to meeting their goals. Rather than being a fixed process with mandated procedures, assessment is an ongoing activity. As the participant’s and family’s circumstances change, their goals and/or challenges may change, resulting in changes in the actions or activities necessary for him and the family to succeed. NOTE: There should be no zero hour cases. Every Work-Eligible case should have at least one participation hour.