1032-1           ALASKA'S COMPARABILITY CRITERIA

Tribal TANF Temporary Assistance for Needy Families is authorized by the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) of 1996, and reauthorized by the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. PRWORA includes a special rule for Alaska requiring Native Organizations to run programs comparable to the Alaska Temporary Assistance Program. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families (ACF), in consultation with the Native Organizations and the State of Alaska established five “comparability criteria.”  Alaska’s comparability criteria are as follows:

• Only families with at least one dependent child or a woman in the last trimester of pregnancy are eligible for assistance;

• Benefit payments to eligible families may not exceed the amounts allowed under the Alaska Temporary Assistance Program;

• To remain eligible for assistance, any minor client of a dependent child must reside with a parent, legal guardian, or other adult relative, or in an adult-supervised supportive living arrangement, and agree to have their cash benefit paid to their client, legal guardian, or adult relative, or if applicable, to the adult head of an adult-supervised supportive living arrangement, and maintain attendance in a high school or other appropriate training program, unless the minor parent has a high school diploma or general equivalent diploma.

• Families receiving assistance must participate in approved work activities within 24 months or sooner, unless the participant is exempt from work activity requirements.

• Families receiving assistance must cooperate with the Native TANF Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program and the Alaska Child Support Services Division (CSSD) or their Native Organization (when the Native Organization operates a child support enforcement program) in their efforts to establish paternity and to establish, modify, or enforce a child support order for a dependent child in the assistance unit.  A Native TANF program applicant may not begin to receive benefits until he or she has assigned all rights to child support to the Native Organization operating a TANF program for the period for which benefits are paid.