1801 Employment Services | TANF

According to the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996 (P.L. 104-193), Title I, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), two of the main purposes of TANF are 1) to end the dependency of needy parents on government benefits by promoting job preparation, work and marriage and 2) to encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.

Georgia’s primary focus in the TANF program is to:

In so doing, Georgia can help needy families become self-sufficient and leave the cash assistance roles as soon as possible thus, preserving their TANF months for future use, if needed.

A TANF Family Service Plan (TFSP) will be developed with the family and may include:

Assistance is provided in the following manner:

The “TANF Clock” refers to the time limited nature of TANF benefits. Refer to 1390 Lifetime Limit.

Movement towards sustained employment must be given the highest priority in the provision of services and benefits. The receipt of cash assistance is directly linked to the exercise of responsible behavior on the part of parents who receive benefits on behalf of their children. The priority is given to employment because Georgia believes that families will always be better off when they work, and this is consistent with the work requirements contained in the federal legislation. Therefore, support services will be provided to create progress towards sustained employment.

Participants who go to work and become ineligible for cash benefits may continue to receive childcare to ensure stable employment and a decrease in recidivism.

Georgia is required to terminate or reduce cash assistance to an assistance unit (AU) if an AU member refuses to engage in required work activities without good cause.

The purpose of TANF Employment Services is to help clients become prepared for and obtain employment and to reduce the need for and dependence on public assistance.

DFCS collaborates with employers, educators, trainers, and support service providers to ensure that each client has access to the resources needed to achieve the goal of self-sufficiency.

DFCS assists participants in the utilization of a combination of employment resources such as, child support payments, non-recurrent cash assistance, job coaching, subsidized employment and other support services listed in section 1830, Employment Support Services of the policy manual.

The goals of employment services are to:

Georgia has established a set of values to be a guide for our workers. Georgia sets performance standards in negotiation with its Districts and Counties. However, the federal performance standards are used as minimum.

Beginning in FFY 1999, and continuing, 90% of two-parent families must participate for a minimum of 35 hours per week. Both parents in a two-parent family must meet 35-hour per week minimum requirement.

During FFY 2001, 45% of single-parent families had to participate for a minimum of 30 hours per week. Beginning in FFY 2002, 50% of single-parent families must participate for a minimum of 30 hours per week.

Beginning in Federal Fiscal Year (FFY) 2002, 50% of single-parent households with a work requirement are required to participate in one or more core (primary) activities for a minimum of 30 hours per week. However, a single custodial parent of a child under six may participate for an average of only 20 hours per week in a month. Specific activities are designated by federal law as core (primary) work activities.

Refer to 1820 Work Activities.

Some activities are designated by federal law as countable to a state’s work participation rate under certain circumstances. Categorized as non-core (secondary) work activities, they can count toward the minimum standard of 30 hours per week when a participant has at least 20 hours of participation in core (primary) activities.

Refer to 1820 Work Activities.

Not more than 30% of TANF participants counting toward the participation rate may meet the work requirement by participating in vocational education activities or by being a teen head of household who maintains satisfactory school attendance.

For two-parent families, the participation requirement is slightly different. The requirement is that 90% able-bodied two-parent assistance units must participate in an approved work activity.

To count in the participation rate, both able-bodied parents in a two-parent AU must participate for a combined total of at least 35 or 55 hours, depending on whether or not they receive federally funded childcare.

The ADA’s definition of a person with a disability is an individual who:

Persons discriminated against because they have a known association or relationship with an individual with a disability also is protected by the ADA.

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 are applicable to employment services policies and practices.

The ADA forbids the exclusion from participation in TANF of an otherwise eligible person solely due to that person’s disability. The ADA forbids the denial of benefits provided by a public entity to a person otherwise eligible for those benefits, solely due to that person’s disability.

The ADA also forbids the subjection of a disabled person to discrimination by a public entity. Entities that receive Federal financial assistance are prohibited by the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 from the same forms of discrimination that are prohibited by the ADA.

To exempt disabled persons from mandatory work activities denies them access to the services necessary for the achievement of self-sufficiency and violates the letter and the spirit of the ADA. This is consistent with Georgia’s beliefs and counties will secure accommodations for persons with disabilities/limitations in order to ensure their participation.

The Federal TANF statute is based on the presupposition that recipients of public assistance will be better off when provided with job and training opportunities rather than continuing to receive public assistance.

The division’s employment services policies and procedures are designed to work with disabled individuals who have disabilities but who can work if provided with modified training or accommodated job opportunities. In so doing, the division allows people with disabilities to benefit from employment services.

Georgia does not exempt its disabled TANF recipients from work activities. Rather, policy requires that the TANF Family Service Plan considers a client’s abilities and disabilities/limitations when a TANF service plan is developed by the case manager with the client.

The goal of case management is to support movement towards sustained employment. The expectation that dependence on public assistance can end must be communicated to the recipient throughout the case management process. The process must be goal-oriented, focusing on what the client needs and what must be done to achieve the final goal of self-sufficiency.

Case management is a systematic approach to assessing the needs of the AU, identifying resources, coordinating the referral process to access these resources to meet those needs, and monitoring the progress being made in attaining the goals agreed upon by the recipient and case manager.

The case manager is responsible for:

Document all assessment findings on the appropriate forms as well as on the Integrated Eligibility System (IES).

All DFCS staff plays a part in helping recipients find work and attain economic self-sufficiency. It is essential, therefore, to maintain effective communication when more than one worker is dealing with different aspects of a case.

When eligibility and employment services responsibilities are divided, information that may affect a recipient’s eligibility for cash assistance must be reported to eligibility staff as soon as possible so that changes can be made within the standard of promptness (SOP).

Examples of such information include:

This list is not all inclusive.

Information affecting eligibility for childcare must also be communicated as soon as possible so that changes can be made within the SOP. It is also important to keep staff apprised of the accomplishments of participants.

Close communication must be maintained with partner agencies and other entities with which the agency has contracted to provide services to TANF clients. The deadlines, by which information must be relayed by DFCS staff to partner agencies, and by partner agencies to DFCS staff, are typically specified in the contracts and other agreements. These standards may be different than what is required by TANF policy.

If applicable, document all findings on the appropriate forms, as well as in IES.