The California Department of Social Services has issued clarification regarding various In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) provider enrollment issues.   

Prospective IHSS providers must undergo a background check in order to enroll as a provider.  If an individual has a Tier 1 conviction in the last 10 years, they are barred from being an IHSS provider.  Tier 1 offenses are specified abuse of a child, abuse of an elder or dependent adult and fraud against a government health care program or supportive services program.  Tier 2 crimes also bar an individual from being an IHSS provider for 10 years, but the prospective provider can apply for a waiver.  Tier 2 crimes are a violent or serious felony, a felony for which a person is required to register as a sex offender, and felony fraud against a public social services program. 

CDSS provided a new plain language list of Tier 2 exclusionary crimes and explanation of some of those crimes.  Issues in these explanations include that failure to register as a sex offender, by itself, is not a Tier 2 exclusionary offense, and that a provider who has a Tier 2 felony reduced to a misdemeanor is eligible to work as an IHSS provider.  In addition, any incarceration time for a probation or parole violation is considered part of the original sentence and the ten year bar ends when incarceration for the probation or parole violation ends. 

In general, court orders or court documents are not to be used to deny or terminate IHSS provider enrollment.  Only notice from the Department of Justice can be used to deny or terminate provider enrollment.  However, court orders or court documents can be used to clarify the charged offense or conviction.  In addition, court orders or court documents can be used to determine provider enrollment for non-California offenses.

CDSS also discussed rules regarding minors as IHSS providers.  Minors must be at least 12 years old to obtain a valid work permit.  Minors age 12-13 can only provide limited domestic services and may only be employed on school holidays, weekends or vacations.  Minors age 14-15 can provide cooking or food preparation services but only when supervised by another person over age 18, can work three hours per day school day outside of school hours and eight hours per day on any non-school day.  Minors under age 16 cannot provide medical accompaniment or grocery shopping/errands which would require them to operate a car, and it is recommended that they not administer or dispense medication to recipients.  Minors age 16-17 can provide cooking or meal preparation unsupervised, can work four hours per day school day outside of school hours and eight hours per day on any non-school day and may work a maximum of 48 hours per week.

CDSS also stated rules regarding expired immigrant work documents.   If a non-citizen’s green card or work permit has expired, they are not allowed to work in the United States and therefore cannot be IHSS provides until their work authorization is restored.

An applicant to be a provider must provide a photo identification issued by a United States federal government or state agency or a recognized Native American tribe.  The photo identification does not need to be reverified.   If the photo identification is valid at the time of application, it remains acceptable.

If an individual applies to be a provider in another county, the original county must transfer documents except for the criminal background check, which must be done again by the new county.

Counties must allow labor organizations representing IHSS providers to give a 30 minute presentation during the IHSS provider orientation.  (ACL 19-14, February 7, 2019.)

The California Department of Social Services has issued clarification regarding application of In Home Supportive Services (IHSS) regulations to parent providers.   

A parent living with their minor recipient child is considered unable or unavailable to provide necessary care for their child, and therefore can hire a non-parent IHSS provider when: 1) the parent is unavailable because of employment, with unavailability limited to the hours of employment for a parent working part-time; 2) the parent is enrolled in an educational or vocational training program, with unavailability limited to the time of instruction for parents enrolled only part-time; 3) the parent is physically or mentally unable to provide IHSS services; 4) the parent is unavailable because of ongoing medical, dental or other health-related treatment; or 5) when the parent is unavailable to perform shopping or errands essential for the family, search for employment or essential purposes related to care for the recipients siblings, which allows IHSS services from a non-parent provider for up to 8 hours per week.

A parent can be a paid IHSS provider for their minor child when the parent has left full time employment or is prevented from obtaining full-time employment because no other suitable provider is available.  If a parent is not employed full time for a reason other than the recipient child’s IHSS needs, that parent is not eligible to be a paid IHSS provider for the child.  The county can request employment verification but cannot require the parent to provide an affidavit or other documentation.  A county cannot deny using a parent provider based only on the lack of documentation of employment status. 

A parent who is on paid or unpaid leave or has been laid off for a reason other than the need to care for their child is not considered to have left employment to care for their child and is ineligible to be an IHSS provider for the child.

If a parent who is an IHSS provider for other recipients reaches the maximum number of IHSS work hours, the family can hire a non-parent IHSS provider or a second parent in the household for their child.

An undocumented parent is ineligible to be an IHSS provider.  In that situation, the family can hire a non-parent provider.

In a two-parent household, a parent is an eligible provider if the parent left full-time employment or is unable to obtain full-time employment because of the need to care for their child.  However, a non-parent provider cannot be paid to provide IHSS when one or more parents in the home are able and available.

For parents of a child IHSS recipient who are living separately but share custody, the county assesses the child at the primary parent’s home.  If one parent wants to be the child’s IHSS provider, the county determines if that parent is eligible to be a provider.  If both parents are available to be the child’s IHSS provider, hours are assigned based on the child’s needs when the child is in each parent’s home.

Foster parents are not subject to the IHSS parent provider rules.  However, adoptive parents are subject to the IHSS parent provider rules because they have a legal duty to care for the child upon adoption.

Determining whether a parent can be a paid IHSS provider and/or hire a non-parent provider is a separate and distinct inquiry from whether the child is eligible for IHSS.  The minor must be assessed for IHSS regardless of whether the parent is allowed to be the provider or hire another provider.  The case cannot be terminated if the county finds that there is not an eligible provider.  If the parent’s circumstances change, provider eligibility will be reevaluated.

Counties are required to inform parents about the rules regarding providers for minor recipients.  Counties must review their existing processes to verify providers are being properly enrolled.  Providers must also review impacted IHSS cases as soon as administratively possible but no later than the regularly scheduled reassessment.  (ACL 19-02, January 9, 2019.)