Kansas Economic and Employment Services Manual

1523 Authorized Representative (Applicable to Food Assistance and Child Care Only) - The head of the household, spouse, or any other responsible member of the household may designate an authorized representative who may act on behalf of the household in one or all of the following capacities.

Note: A responsible member of the household as noted above and below must be at least 18 years of age.
 

Refer to 1524 and 1523.5 for specific procedures regarding authorized representatives who are receiving benefits on behalf of a client in an alcohol and drug treatment center.

1523.1 Making Application (Food Assistance)

1. When the head of the household or the spouse cannot make application, another responsible household member may apply or an adult nonhousehold member may be designated as authorized representative for that purpose. The head of the household or the spouse should prepare or review the application whenever possible, even though another responsible household member or the authorized representative will actually be interviewed. The household shall be informed that it will be liable for any overissuance which results from erroneous information given by the authorized representative, except as specified in 2541.4 and 2542.4.
    
2. Adults who are nonhousehold members may be designated as authorized representatives for certification purposes only under the following conditions:
    
   1. The authorized representative has been designated, in writing, by the head of the household, the spouse, or another responsible member of the household, and
       
   2. The authorized representative is an adult who is sufficiently aware of the household's circumstances.

   
   Note: "In writing" includes the application and review forms, and the ES-3141, Alternate Payee Request.
    

3. A person who has been declared legally incompetent by a court who has a court appointed guardian or conservator cannot file an application on his/her own behalf. The guardian/conservator must act as an authorized representative for such legally incompetent person, completing the application and interview process on behalf of the person. If the guardian/ conservator does not wish to apply on behalf of the legally incompetent individual, then the application should be considered as an unsigned, incomplete application, and as such, denied.

NOTE: If a legally incompetent person with a guardian/conservator applies for food assistance, and the agency cannot locate or contact the legal guardian/ conservator, the application cannot be denied because it was not completed or signed by the legal guardian. The local office has the obligation to attempt to locate another person to act as authorized representative. If none can be found, an employee of the local DCF office can be the authorized representative following the restrictions in 1523.4.

These authorized representatives are documented in the case log and are not added to the ebtEdge WebAdmin system.

1523.2 Using Food Assistance Benefits - An authorized representative may be designated to use food assistance benefits to purchase food for the household with the full knowledge and consent of the household. This designation shall be made at the time the application or review is completed, or by use of the ES-3141, Alternate Payee Form. The authorized representative designated to use food assistance benefits may be the same individual designated to make application for the household or may be a different individual. Even if a household member is able to make application and use their benefits, the household may name an authorized representative for using benefits in case of illness or other circumstances which might prevent the household member from using the benefits.

The authorized representative’s name and address must be added to the ebtEdge WebAdmin system. This will send the authorized representative a Kansas Benefits Card and access to the food assistance account. In addition, if the spouse or other responsible household member(s) are authorized by the Primary Applicant to have access to the account their name and address must be added to the ebtEdge WebAdmin system so that a card can be issued. If the Primary Applicant wishes to end the authorized representatives access to their benefits, they must call EBT Customer Service and ask that the card be canceled.

1523.3 Acting on Behalf of Minor Children (Food Assistance) - In the event the only adult living with a household is classified as a nonhousehold member, as described in 4212 and 4220, that individual may be the authorized representative for the minor household members. For further restrictions on those nonhousehold members disqualified for fraud or for failure or refusal to apply for or provide a Social Security number, see 1523.4 (2).

1523.4 Restrictions on Who May be Appointed as an Authorized Representative - The following restrictions apply to authorized representatives:

1. DCF employees who are involved in the certification and/or issuance processes, and retailers/child care providers (or employees of the child care provider) who are authorized to accept food assistance/child care benefits may not act as authorized representatives without the specific written approval of the local EES Program Administrator and only if that official determines that no one else is available to serve as the authorized representative.
    
2. For food assistance, individuals disqualified for fraud or failure to comply with the Social Security number requirement shall not act as authorized representatives during the period of disqualification except when the individual disqualified is the only adult member of the household and it has been determined that no one else is available to serve as an authorized representative. It shall be separately determined whether such an individual is needed to apply on behalf of the household and to use the food assistance benefits for the household.
   
   If the agency also is unable to find anyone to serve as authorized representative to purchase food, the disqualified member shall be allowed to do so.
    
3. All authorized representatives shall be properly designated and their appointment documented in the case file. Limits shall not be placed on the number of households an authorized representative may represent. In the event employers, such as those that employ migrant or seasonal farm workers, are designated as authorized representatives or that a single authorized representative has access to a large number of food assistance/child care benefits, the worker should exercise caution to assure that: the household has freely requested the assistance of the authorized representative; the household's circumstances are correctly represented and the household is receiving the correct amount of benefits; and that the authorized representative is properly using the benefits. When agency staff have obtained evidence that an authorized representative has misrepresented a household's circumstances and has provided false information pertaining to the household or has made improper use of food assistance/child care benefits, the agency shall disqualify that authorized representative in the Food Assistance Program or Child Care Assistance Program for one year.
   
   The agency worker shall send written notice to the affected household(s) and to the authorized representative at least 30 days prior to the date of disqualification. The notice shall include:
    
   1. The proposed action,
       
   2. The reason for the action,
       
   3. The household's right to request a fair hearing,
       
   4. The DCF office telephone number, and
       
   5. The name of the person to contact for additional information.   
   
   This disqualification provision does not apply to drug and alcoholic treatment centers or to those group homes which act as food assistance authorized representatives for their residents.

4. Homeless meal providers as defined in the Appendix may not act as authorized representatives for homeless food assistance recipients.

1523.5 Alcohol and Drug Abuse Treatment Facilities as Authorized Representatives (Food Assistance) - Residents of authorized treatment facilities shall be certified for program participation through the use of an authorized representative who shall be an employee of and designated by the nonprofit organization or institution administering the program. For more information regarding the certification of alcohol and drug abuse facility residents, see 2541.

The Primary Applicant will automatically be mailed a Kansas Benefits Card at the facility address upon approval for food assistance benefits. The authorized representative must be added to the ebtEdge system immediately after approval so a Kansas Benefits Card can be mailed to the facility. The facility will hold the Primary Applicant’s active card until the person leaves the facility. To minimize confusion, it is suggested that the facility staff write the client’s name on the card also identifying the primary and alternate payee. If the client also has cash assistance, the client should be instructed to not access the food assistance benefits while in the facility as the facility's authorized representative will be accessing and using the food assistance benefits.

Once the client leaves the facility, the facility's authorized representative status must be removed on the ebtEdge system. (Like group homes, alcohol and drug abuse treatment facilities will either utilize food assistance through a POS device in the facility, through vouchers or by shopping at the store with cards. How this is done will be decided on a facility-by-facility basis depending on food assistance volume.)