STATE OF ALASKA
Department of Health and Social Services
Division of Public Assistance
TRANSMITTAL NUMBER: MC #36
MANUAL: Alaska Temporary Assistance Program
DATE: March 1, 2012
We are making several changes to clarify existing policy as a result of suggestions from the field. We have also made changes to the self-employment annualization table based on changes in the Federal Poverty Guidelines (FPG) for Alaska.
Highlights of these policy revisions are described below. If you have any questions, please contact the Policy and Program Development Team at 465-3382 or email dpapolicy@alaska.gov.
OVERVIEW OF CHANGES
MS 711-2 Mandatory Filing Unit (MFU): Who Must Be Included in the Assistance Unit
- Adds a note to clarify a half-sibling living in the home who is not related to the adult in the home may not be included in the TATemporary Assistance case.
- Adds a note to the bottom of the section to clarify that parents who are living outside a correctional facility serving a temporary commitment by use of electronic monitoring are not considered incarcerated and must be part of the assistance unit unless otherwise excluded.
MS 711-4 Who May Not Be Included in the Assistance Unit
- Adds a note to clarify a half-sibling living in the home who is not related to the adult in the home may not be included in the TATemporary Assistance case.
- Adds a link to 711-6 for information about trial visits for OCSOffice of Children's Services children.
MS 711-6 The Home
- Clarifies that, during trial visits arranged by OCSOffice of Children's Services, the child is considered to be in the home for TATemporary Assistance purposes.
MS 713-4 Five Year Waiting Period
- Adds a link to the new section 713-4 E which clarifies when to add a person to the case at the end of their 5 year waiting period.
- Adds a new section and examples to demonstrate when benefits begin at the end of the 5 year waiting period.
MS 722-6 Beginning a Job Quit / Refusal of Work Disqualification
- Adds a note to this section to explain if a job quit penalty should have been imposed at application but was not, the penalty must still be imposed but the household must now be treated as recipients and adverse action must be given.
MS 759-6 E Budgeting Self-Employment Income
- Updates the annualization chart in subsection 4 to reflect new federal poverty guidelines.
MS 770-6 Military Pay
- In subsection A, clarifies the amount of money used from a joint account by a deployed individual is not countable income to the family.
- In subsection B 1, adds SAVESystematic Alien Verification for Entitlements pay to list of excluded military income.
- In subsection B 1, Budgeting Combat Pay #1, clarifies only the amount of military pay provided to the household is countable income.
Addendum 4 Entitlements Table
- Corrects SAVESystematic Alien Verification for Entitlements pay to indicate it is not countable income. This is considered combat pay.