Author: Stephen Goldberg

Revised regulations on parents as IHSS providers for children under age 18

Posted on by

Following a decision of the CDSS director that invalidated CDSS’ prior regulations, CDSS issued revised regulations about eligibility for parents to be IHSS providers for their children. The revised regulations are at MPP Sections 30-763.44 and .45.

The revised regulation continues the rule that a child under age 18 is eligible for IHSS when the no parent is available to provide IHSS, which is defined as when the parent(s) is employed or enrolled in an education or vocational training program, or physically or mentally unable to provide IHSS services. A parent is considered unavailable only if unavailability occurs during the time the child must receive a specific service.

In addition, IHSS is available from a non-parent provider for up to 8 hours per week when parents are unavailable in order to do shopping or errands necessary for the family, to search for employment or to care for the recipient’s minor siblings. The regulations continue the rule that a parent who is required to leave or cannot obtain full-time employment because of the need to provide care for a child can be an eligible IHSS provider. The regulations also continue the rule that a parent cannot be the IHSS provider when a second parent who is in the home is available to provide care. The new regulations clarify that the restrictions who can be a provider for children under age 18 apply only to natural or adoptive parents. CDSS also included several questions and answers about the revised regulations.
ACL 15-45 (5/1/15).

MBSAC cost of living increase

Posted on by

Effective July 1, 2015, the CalWORKs Minimum Basic Standard of Adequate Care (MBSAC) increased by 2.54%. The MBSAC is the maximum amount of income an assistance unit can have, after income deductions, and be eligible for CalWORKs. The increase is the cost of living increase required by Welf. & Inst. Code Section 11453. This cost of living increase also increased the Income-In-Kind (IIK) level by 2.54%. The IIK level is the value assigned to free housing, utilities, clothes or food.

These increases also apply to Refugee Cash Assistance, Entrant Cash Assistance and Trafficking and Crime Victims Assistance Program benefits. The California Department of Social Services issued a chart showing the new MBSAC and IIK amount. ACL 15-52 (6/5/15).

OCAT released

Posted on by

CDSS has released its new Online CalWORKs Appraisal Tool (OCAT). OCAT guides county welfare department workers through the CalWORKs appraisal process and generates recommendations for welfare-to-work and supportive services. The OCAT appraisal includes a section to screen for learning disabilities.

OCAT is currently only available in English. Clients with limited English proficiency are to be referred for evaluation and services to address their language barrier. Counties have the option to reassess current welfare-to-work clients using OCAT if they believe doing do will identify barriers to self-sufficiency. Clients must be informed of their privacy rights at the beginning of the OCAT appraisal. Training on OCAT started in April, 2015. All counties must have fully implemented OCAT by October 1, 2015. ACL 15-43 (4/17/15).

MBSAC increase

Posted on by

Effective July 1, 2015, the CalWORKs Minimum Basic Standard of Adequate Care (MBSAC) increased by 2.54%. The MBSAC is the maximum amount of income an assistance unit can have, after income deductions, and be eligible for CalWORKs. The increase is the cost of living increase required by Welfare and Institutions Code Section 11453. This cost of living increase also increased the Income-In-Kind (IIK) level by 2.54%. These increases also apply to Refugee Cash Assistance, Entrant Cash Assistance and Trafficking and Crime Victims Assistance Program benefits. The California Department of Social Services issued a chart showing the new MBSAC and IIK amounts.

ACL 15-52.

School attendance penalty repealed

Posted on by

Effective January 1, 2015, the school attendance penalty for children under age 16 is repealed. Previously, if a child under age 16 was not regularly attending school, the CalWORKs household was penalized by removing all adults in the assistance unit from the grant. AB 2383 amended Welfare and Institutions Code Section 11253.5 to repeal this penalty. As a result, county welfare departments can no longer require families to provide proof of school attendance.

If a 16 or 17 year old is deemed a chronic truant by the school district or a county School Attendance Review Board (SARB), then the needs of that child are not considered in determining the family’s CalWORKs grant. Exceptions to this rule include when there is good cause for non-attendance, when any member of the household is eligible for the family stabilization program and when the child, parent or caretaker is complying with requirements from a SARB, probation department or district attorney. A child whose needs are not considered in computing the family’s grant is eligible for services that may lead to school attendance and can sign a welfare-to-work plan to attend school (with no minimum number of participation hours for that plan).

Penalties imposed prior to January 1, 2015 on children under age 16 should have been lifted effective January 1, 2015. Counties were directed to review all cases of school attendance penalties for 16 and 17 year olds.

ACL 15-22.

Sanctioned adults are eligible for stage 1 child care

Posted on by

Following substantial advocacy by the Child Care Law Center, CDSS has clarified that adults in CalWORKs sanction status can be eligible for Stage 1 child care. Under MPP Section 42-721.41, sanctioned adults are eligible for child care when the client is in the process of curing a sanction or during the months in sanction the client is working or participating in a county-approved program activity, which are activities in the assigned as part of the a welfare-to-work plan or activities necessary to accept or retain employment. Sanctioned adults in a cure plan remain in Stage 1 child care. Sanctioned adults performing an approvable activity should be assessed for transfer to Stage 2 child care.

CDSS also reiterated that clients in sanction status can request to cure the sanction by entering into a plan to cure the sanction and performing the activity stated on the cure plan up to a maximum of 30 days, whichever is shorter.

ACL 15-53