The Temporary Assistance Unit is responsible
for evaluating and processing requests for cash assistance. The eligibility
determination process involves interviewing, collecting and evaluating
documentation, budget computation, and referral as indicated by case
circumstances to other agency units or to a variety of other outside
agencies.
The
Temporary Assistance Unit works closely with all other agency units to
ensure that benefits are issued in an appropriate manner, and to work toward
minimizing the amount of time that a household needs to remain on cash
assistance. Two of the units that are most frequently involved in temporary
assistance cases are the Employment Unit and the Child Support
Enforcement Unit. Both of those units are instrumental in
helping the client find a means of support outside of the welfare system.
In
total, there are five cash assistance programs. The Family Assistance
(FA) program that replaced Aid to Dependent Children in 1996, and the
Emergency Assistance to Families (EAF) programs that have been in place for
some years are both federally reimbursed programs, costing the county a 25%
share of the expenditures. The other three programs, Safety Net (SN),
Emergency Safety Net (ESN), and Emergency Assistance to Adults (EAA) are
funded by a combination of state and local dollars. The primary difference
between federally funded programs and the state/local programs is that the
federally funded require the presence of children in the household. The
state/local programs are for those who do not meet the criteria for
receiving a federally funded program, usually adults living without
children, or in the case of EAA, adults receiving SSI benefits and in
emergent need.
The
State and federal laws governing cash assistance programs are generally more
stringent than the laws governing most of the other programs. The
eligibility levels are lower, the allowable resource levels are lower, while
the behavioral requirements are higher. Compliance with efforts to
secure child support, find employment, cooperate with medical providers,
submit to finger imaging, and where indicated, participate in substance
abuse treatment is mandatory.
Not
included in these numbers are the Washington County residents who were
mandated by the courts to participate in treatment under the Road to
Recovery initiative. Even though the Road to Recovery program did not
open until well into 2003, there have already been nine placements by the
Washington County courts. Payment for these clients to stay in residential
treatment is made under the Safety Net program. Medicaid also pays medically
related costs for what can be a fairly extensive period of time. At this
writing there are five active participants in Road to Recovery; two are
known to have been terminated for non-compliance.
In
another area where an extended stay in a facility is funded through the
Safety Net program, residents of the Adult Home at Pleasant Valley
who are unable to meet the full cost of that facility’s per diem rate on
their own income, become eligible for cash assistance. The facility is
approved for 33 beds; persons in need of the Safety Net subsidy occupy 22.
This ratio, 2 to 3, has been consistent throughout the year.
