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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 19

West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 13 Chapter 19 School Clothing Allowance

When a child who is in the state’s custody and is in foster care through Social Services which pays the $600 per month per child, then this case goes to court, and the judge makes a ruling to give Legal Guardianship to the Foster Care parent. The judge also awards the $600 per month Foster Care payment to continue to be paid to the family.

Once this decision has been made, this is no longer considered a Foster Care case by Social Services but is now considered to be a Legal Guardianship case. The family then becomes ineligible for SCA through Social Services and will need to apply on the Family Assistance side.

• The income received is still out of the Foster Care funds and will still need to be listed in the system as a Foster Care payment on the Unearned Income screen. • The worker will go to the Current Benefit Received Screen in the system and change the Yes to a No for the Foster Care question.

These actions will allow the system to look at the child for an SCA benefit. The child(ren) still must be in the care of a Specified Relative to be eligible for the SCA benefit.

When the child(ren) are not living with a Specified Relative and still meet financial eligibility, contact Children and Adult Services, Adoption Program Specialist who will evaluate for assistance from Social Services.

Recipients of adoption assistance must not be included the benefit group for SCA.