Preparation for implementation of Semi-Annual Reporting on January 1, 2004 is well underway. Training officially started on Monday of last week. The trainers have been busy presenting training on-site at local offices, and they have a tight schedule in order to finish prior to the holiday season. Policy staff are busy finalizing forms and notices, and compiling a list of Q&A’s from the training sessions. Additionally, Systems Operations is working on getting the system supports in place.

Four program manual changes are going in the mail today and will be arriving in your office soon. These are: ATAP Manual Change #10;
APA Manual Change #7; Food Stamp Manual Change #13; and Medicaid Manual Change #26.

These manual changes have also been posted to our website at http://dpaweb.hss.state.ak.us/node/view/15 and are available for immediate use. Some of the links, however, are not working yet and may not be fully operational until sometime next week.

WASHINGTON, Dec. 2 -- HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson announced today that the number of families and individuals receiving assistance under the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program declined slightly between March and June 2003.

There were 2,032,157 families receiving TANF cash benefits in June 2003, the most recent month for which data are available. The total represents a 0.3 percent decrease from March 2003 and a 54 percent decrease from August 1996, when TANF was enacted. A total of 4,955,479 individuals were receiving TANF benefits in June 2003, 0.6 percent fewer than in March and 60 percent fewer than in August 1996.

Almost half of custodial parents received full child-support payments in 2001, a better trend toward compliance than has been recorded since the mid-1990s, the Census Bureau said in a report released yesterday.

About 45 percent of custodial parents received all the child-support payments they were due, with $5,800 the average annual amount paid, said Census Bureau analyst Timothy S. Grall.

First, I want to wish everyone a lovely Thanksgiving holiday. Tomorrow, may we also remember those without bounty. Some Americans tomorrow will eat their Thanksgiving meal in a shelter and will be grateful that someone has provided that opportunity. Some of our clients may be among those or otherwise at tables less bountiful than our own. In other lands, less rich and prosperous than ours, some families will beg tomorrow for food. May we remember them in our prayers and meditations on the day we have set aside, not just for good football, but for thanks to the Giver of all prosperity and blessing.