Author: Stephen Goldberg

Emergency child care program for foster children

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CDSS has issued instructions about the child care Bridge Program.  The program provides emergency child care vouchers, child care navigator services and trauma-informed care training and coaching in counties that choose to participate in the program.

Families eligible for the child care Bridge Program payment include resource families and families who have a child placed with them in an emergency or for a compelling reason, licensed foster family home or certified family homes, approved homes of relatives and nonrelative extended family members, and parents under the jurisdiction of the juvenile court, including non-minor dependant parents.

These families can receive a payment or voucher when work or school responsibilities prevent the eligible families from being at home when the foster child is not in school or when the family is required to participate in activities of parenting beyond ordinary parental duties such as administrative or judicial reviews, case conferences and family trainings.

The payment or voucher is available for up to six months until the child is placed in long-term subsidized child care.  The payment can be extended to up to 12 months at the county’s discretion if the family is unable to secure long-term child care in the first six months.

The child care navigator works for the local Resource and Referral agency and assists the family with locating child care and developing a long-term plan for child care.

The Resource and Referral agency also provides trauma-informed care and coaching to providers and children of parenting youth in the foster care system.

Resource and Referral agencies must enter into a memorandum of understanding or contract with the county child welfare agency.

Counties must apply for the program by November 30, 2017.  (ACL 17-109, October 27, 2017.)

CalWORKs asset limit increase for families with an elderly or disabled member

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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has increased the CalWORKs asset limit for families that include an elderly (age 60 or over) or disabled household member to $3,500 effective October 1, 2017.  The CalWORKs asset limit remains the same for all other households.

If counties find that an assistance unit was denied CalWORKs or had their CalWORKs discontinued as a result of exceeding the prior $3,250 asset limit, counties must re-evaluate eligibility and restore any lost benefits effective October 1, 2017 and moving forward.

If the county has collected or is currently collecting an overpayment based on excess resources for a family with an elderly or disabled member after September 30, 2017, the county must review the case to determine if the family is under the new $3,500 asset limit, and if so must cancel the overpayment and return any funds collected.  (ACL 17-108, October 25, 2017.)

CalFresh income, deductions, resources and exclusions

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The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued instructions about changes to CalFresh income deducation and resource exclusion rules.  Military combat pay is excluded from income when determining CalFresh eligibility and benefit level if the additional pay is the result of deployment to or service in a combat zone and was not received immediately prior to serving in a combat zone.

The CalFresh standard deduction increased to $144 per month effective fiscal year 2009, and for every year thereafter is indexed to inflation.

The cap on deduction for dependent care expenses is eliminated.

Funds in designated retirement accounts, in a Federal Thrift Savings Plan, in an ABLE account, in a myRA account or in an education savings account are excluded from resources.  (ACL 17-98, October 12, 2017.)

Disaster CalFresh for fire victims

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CDSS has issued several directives regarding CalFresh for victims of the Northern California fires.  These directives include issuance of mass replacement benefits, statewide access to CalFresh (and CalWORKs) services statewide, allowing purchase of hot food with CalFresh benefits and waiver of timely reporting requirements.

California has been approved to issue Disaster CalFresh. Current CalFresh recipients can request supplemental disaster benefits.   New applicants affected by the disaster can be eligible for Disaster CalFresh if the household lived in the disaster area at the time of the disaster, and experienced either damage to their home or self-employment property, disaster-related expenses, disruption in income or inaccessible liquid resources.

CDSS also has links to the application for disaster CalFresh and the affidavit form for issuance of replacement CalFresh.  Disaster CalFresh, October 2017.

Responsibility for developing written evidence in Social Security hearings

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Social Security has issued a ruling regarding the responsibilities of both the Social Security Administration and the claimant to develop evidence and other information in disability and blindness claims for both SSDI and SSI cases.  The ruling applies at all levels of review, including administrative law judge hearings.

Social Security states that the claimant has the primary responsibility to provide evidence in support of disability or blindness claims.  The Social Security Act also requires the Social Security Administration to make reasonable efforts to obtain all medical evidence from the claimant’s treating source that is necessary to properly evaluate the claim prior to evaluating medical evidence obtained from a consultative source.  Social Security must also develop a complete 12-month medical history when making a disability determination.  This means that Social Security will make an initial request for evidence from the medical source, and will follow up with the provider between 10 and 20 days after the request if it has not received the evidence.

Claimants must submit or inform Social Security of all evidence known to them that relates to the disability claim.  Claimants must submit or inform Social Security of any written evidence no later than 5 business days before an administrative law judge (ALJ) hearing.  The ALJ can ignore evidence submitted less than 5 business days before the hearing unless the claimant demonstrates good cause for late submission.  To satisfy the duty to inform, the claimant must provide information specific enough to identify the source of the evidence and the relevance of the evidence.

Representatives have a duty to assist claimants in obtaining evidence. Representatives must also submit or inform Social Security of evidence as soon as they obtain or become aware of it.  Representatives should not wait until 5 business days before the hearing to submit or inform Social Security of evidence unless they have a compelling reason for the delay.  In addition, representatives cannot inform Social Security of evidence without submitting it unless the representative shows they could not obtain the evidence despite good faith efforts. Violation of these duties can result in referral to the Office of General Counsel for disciplinary action.

At the Appeal Council level, the Appeals Council will not obtain or evaluate additional evidence when deciding whether to grant review unless there is good cause for failure to previously submit it or the case is a SSI claim that is not based on an initial application for benefits (an age-18 redetermination for example).  SSR 17-4p (October 4, 2017).

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Child support order suspension for incarcerated obligors

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The Department of Child Support Services has issued statewide policy instructions regarding suspension of child support orders for incarcerated obligors.  This policy implements revisions to Family Code 4007.5 in AB 610 (2015).

Child support obligations are suspended when a qualifying order is issued or modified after October 8, 2015 and the obligor has been incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized for more than 90 consecutive days after the order was issued or modified.  The suspension applies to payments on a current order and arrears payments.

Exceptions to child support obligation suspension are when the obligor has the means to pay while incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized, the incarceration or involuntary institutionalization is for domestic violence, or the incarceration or involuntary institutionalization is for failure to comply with a child support order.

Local Child Support Agencies (LCSA) can administratively adjust orders at any time after the initial 90 days of incarceration or involuntary institutionalization provided that the LCSA sends notice of the intended adjustment to both the obligor and obligee and neither party has objected within 30 days of receipt of the notice.  If either party objects, the LCSA must file a motion in court. The child support order suspends effective the first day of the first full month following incarceration or involuntary institutionalization.

If there is no evidence of ability to pay when the obligor is incarcerated or involuntarily institutionalized, the LCSA can ask the court to establish a $0 order when the order is initially established or when the LCSA determines based on its review of the case that the order should be modified.

These policies do not apply to orders established or modified prior to October 8, 2015. (CSSP Letter 17-03, October 10, 2017.)