Cash benefits will be time-limited for households headed by two employable adults age 18 or older who are included in the grant. For households applying on or after 01/01/2000, the lifetime time limit will be thirty-six (36) cumulative months. Families will receive these benefits only through participation in a pay-after-performance work experience position or if the adults are working and the family’s countable income is below the need standard.

Time limits apply when three conditions are met:

· the caretaker is included in the grant,

· the caretaker is age 18 or older,

· the caretaker is employable, and

When one or more of the conditions listed above is not met, the family receives benefits in the non-time limited program known as the Children’s Program.

During the time-limited period, employable adult recipients will receive full cash benefits only as long as they fulfill their Contract of Mutual Responsibility, and participate in a pay-after-performance work experience program or they are working and family income is below the need-standard of 75% of the Federal Poverty level.

The pay-after-performance work experience position is intended for families who do not have unsubsidized employment. Determine the number of hours of work required by dividing the TANF benefit by the minimum wage. In addition, participants will be required to conduct up to ten (10) hours of job search each week. Failure to comply with the job search requirements will result in an employment and training sanction being applied as described in Section DSSM 3011.2 .

Periodic Alerts to Families Regarding Time Remaining before the Family Reaches the Time Limit

The Division will track the time remaining before a family’s time limits expire and alert the family. The Division will notify families on a quarterly basis of the time they have remaining before the time limits expire.

A. Delaware Temporary Assistance to Needy Families cash benefits are time-limited for a household headed by two employable adults age 18 or older who are included in the grant. For households applying on or after 01/01/2000, the lifetime time limit will be thirty-six (36) cumulative months. Families will receive these benefits only through participation in a pay-after-performance work experience position or if the adults are working at least 25 hours per week and the family’s countable income below the need standard.

Time limits apply when three conditions are met:

• the caretaker is included in the grant,

• the caretaker is age 18 or older,

• the caretaker is employable, and

When one or more of the conditions listed above is not met, the family receives benefits in the non-time limited program known as the Children’s Program.

B. During the time-limited period, employable adult recipients will receive full cash benefits only as long as they fulfill their Contract of Mutual Responsibility, and participate in a pay-after-performance work experience program or they are working and family income is below the need-standard of 75% of the Federal Poverty level.

The pay-after-performance work experience position is intended for families who do not have unsubsidized employment. Determine the number of hours of work required by dividing the TANF benefit by the minimum wage. In addition, participants will be required to conduct up to ten (10) hours of job search each week. Failure to comply with the job search requirements will result in an employment and training sanction being applied as described in Section 3011.2.

C. Periodic Alerts to Families Regarding Time Remaining before the Family Reaches the Time Limit

The Division will track the time remaining before a family’s time limits expire and alert the family. The Division will notify families on a quarterly basis of the time they have remaining before the time limits expire.

8 DE Reg. 1618 (5/1/05)

Under Delaware's Temporary Assistance To Needy Families, cash benefits will be time-limited for households headed by an employable adult age 18 or older who is included in the grant. For households applying on or after 01/01/2000 the lifetime time limit will be thirty-six (36) cumulative months. Families will receive benefits only through participation in a pay-after-performance work experience position or if the adult is working at least 25 hours per week and the family has countable income below the need standard.

Time limits apply when three conditions are met:

• the caretaker is included in the grant;

• the caretaker is age 18 or older;

• the caretaker is employable; and

When one or more of the conditions listed above is not met, the family receives benefits in the non-time-limited program known as the Children’s Program.

8 DE Reg. 1618 (5/1/05)

If a family was headed by an employable adult age 18 or older who was included in the grant and received Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) cash benefits prior to 01/01/2000 they had a forty-eight (48) cumulative month time limit. This lifetime limit will still apply for those families. After twenty-four (24) cumulative months these families can only receive benefits if the adult is working at least twenty-five hours per week or through participation in a pay-after-performance work experience position. The family must still have countable income that is below the need standard. Families with a forty-eight (48) month cumulative time limit who reapply for assistance on or after 01/01/2000 can only receive benefits if the adult is working at least twenty-five hours per week or if through participation in a pay-after-performance work experience position.

Here are some examples:

1. Example:

A family initially began receiving TANF on 08/01/97. The TANF case was closed 06/30/1998. The family applied for and received TANF benefits while the time limit was forty-eight months. The family used eleven (11) months of time limited TANF benefits. The family reapplies for benefits 02/01/2000. The family can receive up to thirty-seven (37) more cumulative months of TANF benefits in the time-limited program if and only if:

• the employable adult is working at least twenty-five hours per week; or

• by participating in a pay-after-performance work experience position; and

• the family still has countable income that is below the need standard.

2. Example:

A family had not received TANF benefits prior to 01/01/2000. The family applies for and it opened in TANF 03/01/2000. The family can only receive TANF benefits for up to thirty-six (36) cumulative months and only if:

• the employable adult is working at least twenty-five hours per week; or

• by participating in a pay-after-performance work experience position; and

• the family still has countable income that is below the need standard.

8 DE Reg. 1618 (5/01/05)

The Division will track the time remaining before a family’s time limits expire and alert the family. The Division will notify families on a quarterly basis of the time they have remaining before the time limits expire.

If requested by the client prior to the end of the 36 or 48 cumulative month period in which a family has received assistance (through cash assistance and participation in pay-after-performance), the Division will complete another assessment of employability. If the Division determines that the adult caretaker is not employable, the Division will continue benefits under the Children's Program as described in Section 3003. If the Division determines that the adult caretaker is employable, TANF benefits will end to the family as of the last day of the 36 or 48 cumulative months.

At least 90 days prior to the end of the 36 or 48 cumulative month period in which a family has received assistance, the Division will remind the family that assistance will end and notify the family of the right to apply for an extension.

The Division will limit extensions to those families who can demonstrate that:

the agency substantially failed to provide the services specified in the individual's Contract of Mutual Responsibility (see Section 3009 for Contract); the related extension will correspond to the time period for which services were not provided;

or

despite their best efforts to find and keep employment, no suitable unsubsidized employment was available in the local economy to the employable adult caretaker; the maximum extension under such circumstances will be 12 cumulative months. See "SUITABLE EMPLOYMENT" definition.

The Division Director or the Director's designee will make decisions on granting extensions within 45 days of the request. Fair hearing provisions set forth in Section 5000 apply. Benefits will not continue beyond the time limit.

The Division will not grant extensions if:

the adult caretaker received and rejected offers of employment, quit a job without good cause, or was fired for cause;

the adult caretaker did not make a good faith effort to comply with the terms of the CONTRACT OF MUTUAL RESPONSIBILITY; or

the adult caretaker has received 60 cumulative months of TANF.

The responsibility rests with the adult caretaker to demonstrate substantiality. It is not enough for the adult caretaker to simply make a claim that the agency failed in its effort to provide the services specified under the Contract of Mutual Responsibility. The adult caretaker must present the reasons for the claim and show how the agency failed to provide these services.

Assistance will be denied to employable caretakers reapplying for benefits after the time limit has expired, unless the caretaker proves that grounds exist for an extension.

Benefits will be provided to these families only in the pay-after-performance component, up to the federal maximum of sixty (60) cumulative months in the time-limited program (See DSSM 3002.9). DSS will conduct an assessment and notice the family prior to termination of benefits (See DSSM 3002.5).

Families headed by unemployable caretakers can receive assistance under the Children's Program.

The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 calls for a maximum sixty (60) month lifetime limit on the receipt of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF) benefits. A family that has an employable adult will be able to receive cash benefits that do not count to the State’s thirty-six (36) month or forty-eight (48) month time limit if:

• The adult is working for twenty-five (25) hours or more per week; and

• The countable income of the family is still below the need standard.

The Federal time limit does not apply in these cases.

8 DE Reg. 1024 (1/1/05)

8 DE Reg. 1618 (5/1/05)