5125-3 DEPRIVATION BY CONTINUED ABSENCE
In deciding whether deprivation by continued absence exists, the caseworker will use the following definitions:
Maintenance means providing regular, predictable, and frequent contributions of cash, which are for a child’s basic needs and are significant in value. Sporadic gifts once a month or less frequently is not the same as maintenance.
Physical care includes activities such as providing clean clothing, washing, dressing, preparing meals, feeding, putting to bed, or assisting with other personal care needs. Substantial amounts of physical care must be provided on a regular, frequent, and predictable basis in order for the caseworker to find that a parent is providing physical care for a child.
Guidance includes activities such as accompanying the child to the doctor, providing transportation, attending school activities and conferences, assisting with school work or extracurricular activities, monitoring activities or play, providing discipline, and participating in decisions concerning the child's well-being. Substantial guidance must be provided on a regular, frequent, and predictable basis in order for the caseworker to find that a parent is providing guidance to a child.
5125-3 B. CIRCUMSTANCES IN WHICH A CONTINUED ABSENCE CONSTITUTES DEPRIVATION
A child is deprived of parental support
and care when a parent does not continue to live in the home of the child,
except for a temporary absence. See Section
5120-5 B.
The child is deprived of parental support and care, even if a divorced,
separated, unmarried, hospitalized, or institutionalized parent, with
whom the child does not live, has some contact with the child.
5125-3 C. DURATION OF CONTINUED ABSENCE
There is no minimum time limit requirement on how long a continued absence must have lasted or be expected to last. It is never acceptable to hold an application in order to verify that deprivation exists. For recent absence cases, the caseworker must answer the following two questions before reaching an eligibility decision about deprivation:
Is one of the
parents absent from the home now?
Is that absence such that the conditions of section 5125-3 B above are met, and it appears reasonable to predict that the conditions of 5125-3 B above will be met?
If the answer to either or both of these questions is no, then deprivation does not exist. If the answer to both of the questions is yes, then deprivation exists.
5125-3 D. DETERMINING DEPRIVATION WHEN THE ABSENT PARENT HAS CONTACT WITH THE CHILD
Occasionally a divorced, separated, or unwed parent may have contact with the child, visiting the child in the child’s home, having the child visit in his or her home, picking the child up from school or home and taking the child to activities, etc. If such visits occur they do not automatically lead to the finding, that deprivation does not exist. All of the available circumstances of the visits must be gathered and examined to see if the criteria of Section 5125-3 B are met. Whatever the cause of the alleged absence of the parent from the home of the child, cases in which there is frequent contact of the child with the absent parent will be treated as follows:
1. Obtaining Absent Parent Residence Information
The caseworker must determine if the allegedly absent parent is in fact absent, which means not living in the child's home. Absence exists if the parent maintains a residence elsewhere that is not temporary, and actually uses that residence as his or her primary home, as shown by keeping regularly-used personal possessions and clothing there, regularly receiving telephone calls and mail there, reporting that residence to others as his or her address, etc. The caseworker must evaluate items of proof which tend to show where the absent parent lives. Each item of proof must be evaluated along with the other items so that the caseworker can decide whether the home of the child and the absent parent are the same.
The caseworker must allow for the fact that domestic relations may appear cordial and open with respect to the child and visitation. However, circumstances may exist otherwise that make it impossible for the applying caretaker relative to present or obtain proof concerning the absent parent's actual residence. Benefits will not be denied because the caretaker relative cannot provide this proof. The caseworker must, where necessary, obtain residence information from the absent parent and/or from collateral contacts.
Frequent contact cases, particularly those involving a history of custody disputes or those involving some sort of Child Support Enforcement recovery, are often subject to complaints from relatives, neighbors, or one of the parents, or made anonymously. The most frequent source of such complaints involves the question of where the allegedly absent parent really resides. While all such complaints must be documented and at least examined, no finding on deprivation can be made without a full investigation. Complaints from any source, anonymous or otherwise, must be examined carefully and weighed in light of the possible motives of the complainant. Documents showing residence or mailing address must be weighed according to how recent they are and who provided the information they show.
Following are examples of proof, which may be relevant to deciding where someone lives:
Where the
person keeps the majority of his/her personal belongings;
The amount
of time spent at one address as opposed to another;
Housing records
(for example, lease or rent receipts);
Unemployment
Insurance Benefit records;
Child support
records;
Correctional,
police, or probation records;
Tax records;
Employer or
union records;
School registration;
Mailing address
for government benefits which require mailing to the current address;
Address used
for credit;
Address given
to utilities or creditors as a current address;
Vehicle registration,
driver's license, or post office address that has changed since the
absence started;
Information
about the frequency, type, and length of the absences;
Collateral contacts with landlords, neighbors, or other reliable persons.
5125-3 E. EXAMPLES OF PARENTAL ABSENCE
Short, planned absences for such activities as vacations, visiting relatives, National Guard summer camp, or seeking/securing employment may temporarily disrupt the household unit and reduce the amount of support, care, or guidance the absent parent is able to provide. However, planned absences do not result in a finding of deprivation unless the test set out in Section 5125-3B is met. Deprivation cannot be denied simply because the separation began as a planned absence. The current situation must be examined to determine if deprivation now exists.
Divorce is a judicial termination of a marriage by written decree of a court. Deprivation may exist if a child's natural or adoptive parents are divorced and one or both parents are out of the child's home.
Verification:
Verify with a copy of the divorce decree and by collateral contacts on
the actual living situation.
When a divorce has been granted that also involves a child custody order, it is possible that the actual location of the child and the parent who is actually the caretaker may be very different from what is specified in the custody order. The specified terms may bear no relationship at all to who actually has custody of the child or when visitation occurs. Thus, an order providing for joint or shared custody does not by itself demonstrate that deprivation does not exist. The caseworker must examine the actual situation to determine if the criteria in Section 5125-3 B are met.
Legal separation occurs when a court issues a written decree establishing the right of married parties to live apart without actually terminating their marital bonds. Deprivation exists if the couple is not living together.
Verification:
Verify with a copy of the separation order and by collateral contacts on
the actual living situation.
4. Separation Without a Court Decree
Deprivation may exist when the natural or adoptive parents are not living together and desertion has not occurred.
Verification:
Verify with collateral contacts on the actual living situation.
Desertion occurs when either or both parents willfully abandon the home, leaving it without the necessities of life and with no indication of any plan to return.
Verification:
Verify with collateral contacts.
Birth out of wedlock may be considered as a condition depriving the child of parental support and care if one or both of the unwed parents are absent from in the home of the child and the other aspects of deprivation exist.
Unrelated male living in home. In the circumstance where an applicant household consists of a parent, child, and an unrelated male, there is a possibility that the unrelated male is the father of the child.
Deprivation by reason of continued absence will not exist if:
The unrelated
male is determined to be the father of the child by a court decision;
or
A birth certificate
is issued listing the unrelated male as the child's father. Normally,
the Alaska Birth Certificate of a child born out of wedlock will not
list any father, unless the father has signed a Vital Statistics Affidavit
of Paternity; or
The unrelated male acknowledges paternity using the DPA GEN 7.
If a caseworker believes that an unrelated male in the household may be the father, he must complete the Division of Public Assistance Statement of Relationship form (GEN 7). If none of the three conditions above exists, and the person indicates on this form that he is not the father, deprivation exists.
Deprivation may exist if the absent parent is hospitalized or institutionalized for prolonged treatment of physical or mental illness. In order for deprivation to exist, the severity and duration of the illness must be such that the role of the sick parent in providing support and care for the child is interrupted or terminated.
Verification:
Verify by obtaining a statement from a medical provider that confirms institutionalization
and gives an assessment of the duration and severity of the illness.
Deprivation of parental support or care due to continued absence of the parent exists when a parent has been deported from the United States. There are no requirements concerning how long the parent must be gone.
Verification:
Verify by obtaining by court documents or Immigration and Naturalization
Service documents ordering deportation.
Deprivation of parental support or care due to continued absence of the parent will be found to exist when a parent has been sentenced to a correctional institution or is being held in a correctional institution to await legal proceedings.
Work Release. Deprivation may be found to exist in the instance when the parent is on a work-release program and living at home, providing the following conditions are met:
A parent has
been convicted of an offense and is under sentence of a court, and
The sentence requires, and the parent is performing, unpaid public or community services during working hours.
Verification:
Verify by obtaining a statement from an official of the custodial institution.
Deprivation exists if there is evidence of a court-approved single parent adoption.
Verification:
Verify by viewing the court order of adoption. Document that this
court order was seen; do not place a copy in the case file.
If the absent parent is in the military or other uniformed service (including Coast Guard or Public Health Service), deprivation may exist if the absence is not solely due to military service. If the military parent is away from home on an assigned duty or tour elsewhere, this is a planned absence and not deprivation. Deprivation exists only if the parent is absent from the home and the extent of his involvement in providing support and care immediately before and during the assignment constitutes deprivation.
Verification:
Verify absence and deprivation with military authorities and other collateral
contacts.
|
||
|
|