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IMA POLICY MANUAL
PART IV: NON-FINANCIAL ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
CHAPTER 1: GROUP COMPOSITION
LIVING WITH AND LIVING TOGETHER 1.11
| ALL |
'Living together' or 'living with' means sharing a home except for temporary absences. A temporarily absent person is considered in the home (see Section 1.14: Temporary Absence in this Chapter). In order to receive assistance as part of a group, an individual must live with the group.
Individuals are considered to be living together if they share any common living quarters such as a kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, or living room. Persons who share only an access area (that is, entrance or hallway) or non living area (that is, laundry room) are not considered to be living together. |
MULTIPLE GENERATIONS IN THE HOME 1.12
| MA |
See Section 1.4: Optional Group Members for information regarding the option to include parents of pregnant or parenting minors.
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| TANF |
The child of a minor receiving TANF assistance is not a mandatory group member. However, if assistance is requested for the child of the minor, s/he must be included in the group with his/her parent. If the minor parent's parent or caretaker relative is receiving assistance or applies for assistance, the minor parent must be included in the same unit as his/her parent or caretaker relative. Similarly, if the minor parent's sibling who lives in the same household as the minor parent is receiving assistance, the minor parent must be included in the same unit as his/her sibling. If the minor parent does not live with a parent, caretaker relative, or sibling who is also receiving TANF, the minor parent can be the head of his/her own unit.
If the minor parent does not meet all non-financial eligibility requirements (as in the case of the minor parent receiving SSI), a separate group should be established for the minor parent's child. The child should not be included in the assistance group with the minor parent's parent/caretaker relative or the minor's parent's sibling. However, if the minor parent is disqualified from receiving TANF because s/he fails to comply with program requirements, the minor parent's child should be included in the unit with the minor parent's parent, caretaker relative, or sibling if the child would have been included in the unit if the minor parent was not disqualified.
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Ms. Smith lives with her teenage daughter, Jane who is 17. Ms. Smith and her teenager receive TANF. Jane has a baby. The baby's father pays child support. The baby does not have to be included in the group with Jane and Jane's mother if the group chooses to exclude the baby.
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Ms. Thomas lives with her teenage daughter Amy who is 16. Ms. Thomas works and does not receive TANF. Amy has a baby and applies for TANF. The TANF group can consist of just Amy and the baby, if Ms. Thomas does not want to be included. Because Ms. Thomas is legally responsible for her teenage daughter, Ms. Thomas' income is deemed, using the deemed parent formula, to the group that includes Amy.
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Ms. Krohn lives with her teenage daughter Julia who receives SSI. Julia, age 16, has a baby. The baby must be in her own group since her mother, Julia, is ineligible for TANF due to her receipt of SSI. Because the baby's grandmother, Ms. Krohn, is not legally responsible for her granddaughter, no income is deemed from Ms. Krohn to the baby.
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A household consists of a mother, Ms. Fisher, and her two teenage daughters (Alisha and Kim); Kim receives SSI. The TANF group consists of Ms. Fisher and Alisha. Both Alisha and Kim have babies and request assistance for them. Add Alisha's baby to the existing TANF group.
Establish a separate group for Kim's baby. Since Kim receives SSI, she does not meet the non-financial eligibility requirements.
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Ms. Waxman lives with her daughter (Denise, age 17) and her granddaughter, Amy. Ms. Waxman receives TANF for herself, Denise, and Amy. Denise fails to comply with the school attendance requirement and is removed from the grant. Amy must remain in the unit with Ms. Waxman. A separate unit is not established for Amy. | |
| GC |
N/A
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| FS |
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REQUIREMENT THAT MINOR PARENT LIVE IN AN ADULT SUPERVISED SETTING 1.13
| MA |
N/A
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| TANF |
To receive TANF benefits, a minor custodial parent (male or female) or a pregnant teen expecting to give birth within four months who is younger than 18 years of age must reside in his/her parent's home or, if that option is unavailable, in the home of another adult relative or guardian. This requirement does not apply if the teen parent is married, regardless of whether the teen parent is residing with his/her spouse.
If the applicant refuses to comply (without claiming one of the good cause exceptions listed below) or does not provide a 'living with' (see Section 1.10: Living With and Living Together in this Chapter) statement from the adult with whom the teen parent lives, the SSR should approve the TANF assistance grant for the child or children only and exclude the minor parent when determining the payment amount. This sanction will continue until the minor parent complies with the requirement to live in an adult-supervised setting or reaches his/her 18th birthday, whichever occurs first. The SSR must explain the requirement that a minor parent live in an adult-supervised setting to a teen parent applicant.
A minor parent is considered to have good cause for failing to live in an adult-supervised setting and shall not be subject to the requirement if:
- There is no parent, guardian, or other adult relative living or his/her whereabouts are unknown.
- There is no parent, legal guardian, or other adult relative willing to allow the minor parent to reside in his/her home.
- There exists in the parent's, guardian's, or relative's home a situation which, if the minor parent lived there, would jeopardize the physical or emotional health or safety of the minor parent or child.
In the event a minor parent claims to fall into one of the excepted categories, assistance is to be approved or continued while the Office of Child and Family Services (OCFS) investigates the minor parent's claim. If the claim is substantiated, OCFS will assist the minor parent in locating a suitable, adult-supervised living arrangement (e.g., second-chance home, maternity home, or other appropriate adult-supervised supportive living arrangement) in order to create an allowable living arrangement that will enable the applicant/recipient to obtain TANF benefits. The results of the investigation will be made available to the SSR within 45 days. The case shall be approved within the normal processing standards while the OCFS is finding an appropriate living arrangement if the group is otherwise eligible.
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| GC |
N/A
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| FS |
If a minor parent applying for FS is also receiving TANF and fails to meet the requirement to live in an adult-supervised setting, the FS amount must be based on the full TANF grant amount (that is, including the minor parent's needs) even though the household is not receiving the full TANF grant. |
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