720-2          TWO-PARENT SEASONAL BENEFIT REDUCTION

720-2 A.     SEASONAL BENEFIT REDUCTION POLICY

For the benefit months of July, August, and September, when work opportunities are best in Alaska, ATAPAlaska Temporary Assistance Program payments are reduced by 50 percent for two-parent families except when:

• One of the parents is incapacitated;

•  A parent is needed in the home to care for a child with a disability who requires 24-hour care.  A physician or other licensed medical professional must certify the child’s disability and the need for 24-hour care; or

• One of the parents is an ineligible alien.

Notes:

Once the two-parent coding on the SSDOSSN / Date of Birth / Sex screen is changed to “I” and “2”, EISEligibility Information System will no longer reduce the TATemporary Assistance allotment with the seasonal reduction; the household is eligible for the maximum two-parent payment standard.

For two-parent households where one of the parents is an ineligible alien or one of the parents is needed in the home to care for a child with a disability who requires 24 hour care, the seasonal reduction must be manually overridden on the ATAPAlaska Temporary Assistance Program payment authorization screen.

720-2 B.     WAIVED SEASONAL BENEFIT REDUCTION

The 50 percent seasonal benefit reduction for two-parent families may be waived when both of the following provisions apply:

• The Commissioner of the Department of Health determines that temporary economic conditions have resulted in decreased employment opportunities during the months of July, August, and September; and

• The reduction in assistance would impose an undue hardship on an individual family.  An undue hardship occurs when an individual family experiences circumstances outside of their control preventing the parents from participating in work activities or becoming self-sufficient, and the loss of ATAPAlaska Temporary Assistance Program benefit payments would result in conditions that threaten the health or safety of the individual family.

When both of these provisions have been met, the individual family's Work Services case manager needs to contact hss.dpa.policy@alaska.gov to request an exemption.