This memo provides implementation instructions and information for the following January 1, 2006 KEESM changes:

• Social Service Child Care
  
• IE Child Care to support college/training activities
  
• Action Affecting Child Care Family Share/Authorized Hours
  
• Child Care Adjustments
  
• KsCares Procedures for RS EBT CC Payments
  
• EBT Child Care Parent Brochure
  
• Restoring Aged Off FS Benefits
  
• ABAWDS
  
• Alcohol and other Drug Assessment and Treatment Component
  
• Community Service Component
  
• Employment Assessment Process Component
  
• Job Skills Training/Post Secondary Education/Vocation Education Authorization Guidelines

1. CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE 
   
   1. Social Service Child Care - Per the Summary of Change, Section 2833 is being modified to emphasize situations in which using the child care subtype is appropriate. The ES-1627, Request for Social Service Child Care is also being revised to simplify the process for authorizing SS child care. Check boxes are being added to facilitate completion online. Emphasis is placed on the family’s need and the reference to the child’s needs and the enhanced rate are being removed. Staff shall implement the policies as stated in this section for any requests processed on or after January 3, 2006. Any existing cases shall be updated at the next review to see if they continue to meet eligibility criteria. If they do not, benefits will need to be terminated unless eligibility is met under another subtype or regular policy. Any obsolete ES-1627 forms, those dated prior to 01-06, should be destroyed and replaced with the new version. Regions should coordinate this both internally and externally as needed. Central Office EES will coordinate with JJA Central Office regarding the updated form.
      
      
   2. Income Eligible Employed Child Care - Per the Summary of Change, Section 2834 is being changed to provide more specific instructions regarding allowable training and college activities. A Bachelor or higher degree should not be supported. A Bachelor’s degree is only allowed if completed within six months. Appendix item E-11 Education/Training Assistance Desk Aid is also being modified to reflect the changes. The policy changes for this issue are as follows: SRS will not support Bachelor degree activities unless the degree will be completed within six months. If the Bachelor’s degree will be completed within six months then the 20 hour employment criteria should also be waived. Associate degrees can be supported by SRS. If the AA will be completed within six months then employment should be waived. If the AA will not be completed within six months then the client must meet the 20 hour employment criteria. VoTech/Certificate programs can be supported by SRS also. The reason for the scaling back on training/education support is simply due to budget concerns and not because the agency feels this activity has no value. The child care budget is running a deficit and must be monitored closely in order to avoid larger cuts. Staff are reminded that 2834 pertains to Income Eligible cases, not Work Programs. This change shall be implemented for cases processed on or after January 3, 2006. Any existing approvals shall be updated at the next review to see if they continue to meet eligibility criteria. If they do not, benefits will need to be terminated unless eligibility is met under another subtype or regular policy.
      
      
   3. Action Affecting a Child Care Family Share Amount and/or Authorized Hours - Per the Summary of Change, Section 9121.3 is being removed from the KEESM. This section formerly instructed staff that changes to the family share deductible should only be made during a current review period if the deductible increased by two or more levels. By removing this section, staff will be required to make a change in family share deductible allowing for timely and adequate notice based on ANY change in income reported by the household. This change essentially removes this exception to change reporter case processing. Staff should implement this policy change for any cases processed on or after January 3, 2006 and for any changes reported from that point forward.
      
      
   4. KsCares Procedure: Child Care EBT Payments for RS Clients, Appendix C-22 - Per the Summary of Change, these instructions are being added. This procedure was developed for the EBT-CC implementation to identify steps for EES staff to take when a CC plan needs to be created for a Rehabilitation Services consumer. KsCares is only being used as a vehicle for delivery of RS benefits to consumers. The AE subtype used in this procedure is linked to an RS PCA code so that RS money is used, not EES. This procedure must be initiated by an RS Counselor.
      
      
   5. EBT Child Care - Information for Parents, Appendix C-23 - Per the Summary of Change, this document is being added to the KEESM and is available in Spanish and English. This document can be used to help educate parents about their responsibilities related to child care benefits on the EBT card. These documents will be available from the warehouse. Regional staff may choose to use the materials on a case by case basis, with new approvals, with groups, and/or have them available at access points.
      
      
2. FOOD ASSISTANCE 
   
1. Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWD) - See Summary of Changes, item V, A, 1 and Section 2520 - January 1, 2006 starts a new 36 month eligibility period for ABAWDS. The 36-month period will end December 31, 2008. The following policies apply:
   
   
   • ABAWDs that are receiving benefits at the end of the current 36-month period (applied in September, 3rd month is December 2005) do not have to reapply for benefits to continue into the new 36-month period. They should just be continued through March 2006.
     
     
   • ABAWDs who applied in October - December 2005 shall receive benefits through the end of the current three year period, or December 31, 2005. They will then start their 3-month eligibility in the new 36-month period, from January - March 2006.
     
     
   • Example 1: An ABAWD is certified in October 2005. November and December are the ABAWD months in the current three year eligibility period. Since a new three year period starts January 1, 2006, eligibility for the new three year period will be January - March 2006.
     
     
   • Example 2: An ABAWD applies in December 2005. Since no months are left in the current three year period, the ABAWD months are January - March 2006.
     
     
   • ABAWDs that have received their three months and been taken off an active FS case (SEPA code DI) shall be added back onto active FS cases for the benefit month of January 2006, if appropriate. A new application is not required. The person should be treated just like adding a person to an active case. All factors of eligibility must be met to re-add the person to the case.

To assist staff in this effort, a printout of ABAWDs on active FS cases will be generated electronically and sent separately. Persons listed are coded AB on JOPR with a SEPA code of DI.

ABAWDs on cases that are closed will have to reapply to receive benefits in the next 36-month period. No notification of possible eligibility in the new period is required.

The ABAWD Eligibility Tracking Form, ES-4312, has also been revised as noted in the Summary of Changes. The new form can be downloaded and printed from the KEESM website.

2. Restoring Aged Off FS Benefits Upon Reapplication - See Summary of Changes, Item V, A, 3. - Federal food stamp regulations require that aged off benefits be restored to consumers upon request and upon reapplication for benefits within one year from the month the benefit was originally issued. For example, benefits for August 2005 that will be taken off-line in November 2005 must be restored to the client if requested, or if the client reapplies for food stamps, by July 31, 2006. For reapplications, aged benefits totaling less than $10 (per issuance) will not be restored.

   Local procedures will need to be developed to determine if an applicant has aged off benefits of $10 or greater that need to be restored. In addition to the online eFunds system, aged off benefits can be detected via the aged off reports that are available on SAR (detailed in Appendix Item V-1, Electronic Benefit System Transfer Guide, item 11). An email message can also be sent to FSMAIL to determine if there are aged off benefits that need to be restored if local staff with EBT system access are not available. (Please use FSMAIL only when necessary, not on a routine basis.) The procedure for restoring aged off benefits can be found in the Electronic Benefit Transfer System Guide, item 12. When benefits are restored, the consumer should be notified of the restoration on the approval or denial notice.
   

3. SUCCESSFUL FAMILIES 
   
   
   1. Alcohol and Other Drug Assessment and Treatment - See Summary of Changes, Item VIII, B, 2 and Section 3310.4(1) - Clarification is being added in this revision to support the assessment of a work penalty in situations where a TAF work program client does not follow through with RADAC recommended treatment.

      The following example illustrates the policy intent and best practice:

      RADAC recommends treatment for Bob, a mandatory TAF work program client. The EES case manager and the Solutions case manager discuss this recommendation with Bob. He indicates that he does not have a substance problem and will not go to treatment. He is willing to participate in other appropriate work activities. Other treatment options, such as outpatient treatment and other available supports during treatment, are discussed with Bob. He is still adamant that he does not have a problem and will not participate in treatment. After the guidelines in 3500 are followed, a work penalty for failure to meet work requirements could be assessed in this situation.

   2. Community Service - See Summary of Changes, Item VIII B. 1. And Section 3310.3. and Employment Assessment Process (EAP) - See Summary of Changes, Item VIII B. 1. And Section 3310.4 (4) - This revision implements more structure to the Community Service component and the community service aspect of the Employment Assessment Process (EAP) component. Specifically, volunteer work in the community is limited to six months per component to count toward meeting the federal work participation. Additional modifications include documenting the relationship between the volunteer activity and the client’s employment goal and increasing the expected hours of community service in the EAP assignment from 20 to 24 hours per week.

      The 6-month limitation starts with January 1, 2006 for current TAF recipients and applications approved after January 1. The C100, or other currently available reports, may be used to track the 6-month assignments. The 6- month limitation is tracked separately for EAP and Community Service assignments.

      The following examples illustrate the policy intent:

      1. Margaret applied for TAF on 12/9/05 and her application is approved on January 6, 2006. She was assigned to EAP from the date of the application (12/9/05). Her initial work program assessment is completed on March 10 and she continues to be assigned to the EAP component through June 30. Her employment goal is medical/health profession. Following her initial work program assessment, Margaret’s community service assignment in EAP is volunteer work at the hospital. Beginning in July, Margaret is assigned to the Community Service component and she continues her volunteer work at the hospital for 24 hours per week in addition to working on her GED. If Margaret’s TAF cash case remains open following 12/31/06, she should be assigned to work components other than EAP or Community Service. If her employment goal continues to be medical/health profession, consideration could be given to vocational or job skills training in that field. Work Experience may be another appropriate assignment.
         
         
      2. Same case situation as #1, except Margaret’s work assignment is changed to Community Service when her initial work program assignment is completed on March 10. Since the entire six month limit on EAP has not been utilized in this situation, it would be possible to reassign Margaret to EAP at a later date if additional testing/evaluation was indicated.
         
         
      3. Harold is a current TAF client. His current assignment on SESP is the EAP component for 30 hours per week, and he has been in EAP since January 1, 2005. He is actually job searching and working with a job readiness case management contracted employment service provider. SESP indicates IND and JCM activities for “0" hours per week. The work program progress review is completed in March 2006. Harold can continue to be coded in EAP through June 30 but would need to be assigned to another activity by July. If the job search and job readiness case management services continue to be the most appropriate assignment for Harold, SESP should be changed to show the actual hours of participation for those activities effective July 1. These activities are limited for federal work participation to four consecutive weeks or six non-consecutive weeks per Federal Fiscal Year (FFY-October thru September) and would not count toward meeting the state’s 50% participation requirements beyond those time limits. If appropriate, clients may remain in the components after the 4/6 week limits, but the state should not get participation credit for the time beyond the 4/6 weeks.
         
         
      4. Martha applies for TAF assistance on February 7, 2006. She is living in a shelter and volunteering at the shelter as a requirement to live there. She is assigned to EAP from the date of application. Her application is approved on March 3 and her initial work program assessment is completed on April 28. During the assessment process, Martha has indicated that the shelter is providing for her needs, she enjoys her volunteer work in the shelter kitchen and she is not interested in working outside the shelter. She and the EES worker agree that food/beverage services would be an appropriate employment goal. Martha does not have her GED so she is assigned to Community Service for 24 hours per week and GED 6 hours per week for the May - October time period. This SRS management region is requiring community service to be monitored so a report is received monthly from the shelter to document the 24 hours per week assignment. Beginning in November, Martha is assigned to a work experience site that has been developed for her in the food service field in addition to continued work on her GED.
         
         
   3. Job Skills Training/Post Secondary Education/Vocational Education Authorization Guidelines - See Summary of Changes, Item B, 5 and Section 3322 - The training approval criterion is being updated to encourage the consideration of training approval for TAF and Food Stamp work program clients in addition to promoting use of KJL information on demand occupations as part of the approval criteria. Section 3322 links to KJL demand occupation information.

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