SR 09-09 Dated 04/09

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

SUMMARY

This SR releases the following changes to Child Care eligibility requirements effective April 1, 2009:

·   applicants eligible for Child Care assistance must arrange for child care with an enrolled provider and return Form 2530, Provider Verification Form, to the District Office within 30 days from the application date, or Child Care assistance will be terminated; and

·   Child Care Service Levels have been grouped differently to better indicate the number of hours per week of Child Care service needed by the applicant:

-   Part-Time: 0-15 hours;

-   Half-Time: 16-30 hours; or

-   Full-Time: 31 or more hours.

Form NHEP800CC(T), Application for Child Care Assistance, was created as a test application, hence the "(T)" in the title of the form, to assist NHEP participants in obtaining Child Care assistance more quickly after the assistance was closed due to reasons such as failure to identify a provider. The new form will be used exclusively by Financial Assistance to Needy Families (FANF) cash recipients who are currently participating in the NHEP work program and who are now additionally requesting Child Care assistance to assist them in complying with NHEP work requirements.

POLICY

Effective April 1, 2009, all new applicants eligible for Child Care assistance must arrange for child care with an enrolled provider and return Form 2530, Provider Verification Form, to the District Office within 10 days. If Form 2530 is not received within 30 days from the application date, Child Care assistance must be terminated.

If the provider is not already enrolled, the family must mail the completed Child Care packet to the Child Development Bureau within 5 days to ensure that the provider is enrolled and assigned to the child who will be the recipient of the service within 30 days from the application date.

Child Care Service Levels have been revised to indicate the number of hours per week of Child Care service:

·   Part-Time: 0-15 hours;

·   Half-Time: 16-30 hours; or

·   Full-Time: 31 or more hours.

New Form NHEP800CC(T), Application for Child Care Assistance, was created in test form to be an abbreviated application for NHEP participants who additionally need Child Care assistance to comply with NHEP work requirements. The form is completed while the applicant is working with NHEP staff. Individuals who are receiving FANF cash benefits and currently participating in the NHEP work program are already eligible for Child Care services for the children in the current cash assistance group (AG), based on the AG’s current eligibility for financial assistance. Therefore, the usual identification, citizenship, SSN, and other verification requirements have already been collected and maintained and do not need to be collected again.

NHEP workers provide Form NHEP800CC(T) to individuals who are currently participating in the NHEP work program or who intend to come into full compliance from any level of sanction, who are now requesting Child Care assistance to meet NHEP work requirements. The NHEP worker will assist the individual in completing all sections of the application. The worker will then sign and date the bottom of the first page, make a copy of the completed form for the individual, if requested, and enter pertinent information in the case file notes section in New HEIGHTS, once the Child Care request has been entered.

NEW HEIGHTS PROCEDURES

To incorporate the policy changes, existing screens have been revised and new screens created in New HEIGHTS, as follows:

·   the "Child Care Service Level" screen has been expanded to allow the worker to indicate how many hours per week is being requested for Child Care;

·   a revised drop down menu on the "Child Care Program Responses" screen indicates whether the weekly hours of Child Care are full-time (31 or more hrs.), half-time (16 – 30 hrs.), or part-time (15 hrs. or less); and

·   on the "Assign Child Care Provider to Child" screen, a Form 2530 status drop down menu allows workers to indicate whether the form is returned or not returned.

Child care cases that do not have an open provider link on March 20, 2009 will be closed at the end of the 10-day advance notice period. All impacted cases will receive a Notice of Decision (NOD) indicating why they are being closed. A new failure reason has been created to explain the closure: "open child care with no verified provider link."

NEW FORM

New Form NHEP800CC(T), Application for Child Care Assistance, was created in test form exclusively for individuals who are currently participating in the NHEP work program, who are now additionally applying for Child Care assistance to comply with NHEP work requirements. Form NHEP800CC(T) is a single-page, double-sided, abbreviated version of Form 800, Application for Assistance. NHEP participants using this form to apply for Child Care assistance must:

·   complete Sections A and B on the application;

·   read Your Child Care Rights and Responsibilities, on the back of the form;

·   complete Section C, Statements of Understanding, by initialing, signing and dating where indicated; and

·   submit the completed form to the NHEP worker.

Note: Child Care assistance will "pend," as any case does until required verification is provided, until the applicant also submits a new or updated Form 2530 to complete the Child Care assistance application process.

The new form and its associated instructions have been attached to this SR for reference.

POLICY MANUAL REVISIONS

The Family Assistance Manual will be updated with new topics and policies in July 2009, when final Child Care policy is released.

IMPLEMENTATION

The changes released in this SR are effective April 1, 2009. An initial supply of new Form NHEP800CC(T) was printed and sent to all 13 NHEP offices for the April 1 effective date. NHEP staff must reorder future supplies of this new form on their local office’s monthly forms requisition.

CLIENT NOTIFICATION

On March 20, 2009, all individuals who were open for Child Care assistance but not linked to a child care provider were closed. The following special message was added to the closing NOD:

Effective April 1, 2009, children must be linked to an enrolled child care provider in order to remain eligible for child care assistance. The child care assistance for children currently eligible but without a verified provider link is closing.

Beginning April 1, 2009, children who are open for Child Care but at some point no longer have a valid link, such as when a parent changes providers but fails to link to a new provider, will receive the following special message if the last provider link closed 22 days in the past and no new link has been entered:

Your child care assistance closed because you did not identify your child care provider. You needed to complete Form 2530 to identify your provider and then send the completed form to us. You did not send us this form. If you still need child care assistance, you must reapply for child care at the local District Office. If you need help finding child care, contact your local Child Car Resource and Referral agency at www.nhccrr.org.

A new New HEIGHTS-generated letter, AE0108, No Enrolled Child Care Provider, was created as well, and will be sent to individuals whose last provider link has closed to inform them that they have 10 days to notify the Department of a new provider link or child care will close on the 30th day from the date that the provider link closed. This letter will be released by New HEIGHTS under separate cover at a later date.

Additionally, notification of the changes in Child Care eligibility requirements was published in the NH Rulemaking Register, Office of Legislative Services, on January 23, 2009. A public hearing on the amended Administrative Rules was held on February 17, 2009.

TRAINING

Training on the new Child Care requirements was held on March 23, 2009 for NHEP workers. A similar training was held on March 23rd and 24th for DFA staff.

FORMS MANUAL POSTING INSTRUCTIONS

DISPOSITION

This SR should be retained until the final Child Care assistance changes have been released in July 2009. After the July 2009 changes have been released and posted in the On-Line Manuals, this SR may be destroyed or deleted.

DISTRIBUTION

This SR will be distributed according to the electronic distribution list for Division of Family Assistance policy releases. This SR, and revised On-Line Manual, will be available for agency staff in the On-Line Manual Library, and for public access on the Internet at http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/DHHS/DFA/LIBRARY, effective April 27, 2009. The SR will be distributed under separate cover to all internal hard copy holders of the Family Assistance and Forms Manuals.

DFA/KD:dm