SR 23-41 Dated 10/23

 

STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE

DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES - Bureau of family assistance (bfa)

INTER-DEPARTMENT COMMUNICATION

 

FROM THE OFFICE OF:

Administrator IV of Bureau of Family Assistance (BFA) Debra E. Sorli

BFA SIGNATURE DATE:

September 28, 2023

AT (OFFICE):

Bureau of Family Assistance

TO:

All BFA Staff

All BES Staff

SUBJECT:

FANF Adding Court Appointed Guardian to Specified Relative

EFFECTIVE DATE:

October 1, 2023

 

SUMMARY

This Supervisory Release (SR) releases an update to the definition of “Specified Relative”.

 

FORMER POLICY

NEW POLICY

Specified Relative—blood relatives and half-blood relatives, including preceding generations to the fourth degree of kinship, specifically:

·       father, mother, brother, sister, stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, stepsister, grandmother (including great and great-great), grandfather (including great and great-great), uncle (including grand or great), aunt (including grand or great); and

·       nephew, niece, and first cousin, only. In accordance with federal regulations and state law, degrees of kinship do not apply to nephews, nieces, and cousins when determining if the individual meets the definition of specified relative. Therefore, a specified relative would not include, for example, such relations as first cousins once removed, second cousins or grandnephews.

·       Also included are adoptive parents and their relatives to the same degree as blood relatives, and spouses of any persons named above, even after the marriage has been terminated by death or divorce.

 

Specified Relative—blood relatives and half-blood relatives, including preceding generations to the fourth degree of kinship, specifically:

·       father, mother, brother, sister, stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, stepsister, grandmother (including great and great-great), grandfather (including great and great-great), uncle (including grand or great), aunt (including grand or great); and

·       nephew, niece, and first cousin, only. In accordance with federal regulations and state law, degrees of kinship do not apply to nephews, nieces, and cousins when determining if the individual meets the definition of specified relative. Therefore, a specified relative would not include, for example, such relations as first cousins once removed, second cousins or grandnephews.

·       Also included are adoptive parents and their relatives to the same degree as blood relatives, and spouses of any persons named above, even after the marriage has been terminated by death or divorce; Or

·       Court appointed guardian who provides care and parental control to a dependent child.

 

POLICY

RSA 167:78, XXIII & RSA 167:6,V have been modified to include “court-appointed guardians” (non-related legal guardians) as meeting the definition of a specified relative. A court appointed guardian is a legal guardian who takes care of a person who is unable to take care of themselves. A court appointed guardian may or may not be a relative.

 

Assistance groups with minor dependent children being cared for by a court appointed guardian, regardless if that guardian is a relative or not, shall have the same eligibility as a relative when specified relative is used in making determinations for FANF financial programs.

 

NEW HEIGHTS & NH EASY SYSTEMS PROCEDURES

·        New HEIGHTS is implementing a change to the “Household Relationship” screen. The change is to the question that allows an FSS to indicate court-appointed guardians for Child Care eligibility purposes only. The label of this field will be modified from ‘Non-relative Legal Guardian (CC Only)’ to just say ‘Non-relative Legal Guardian’. This change will enable workers to indicate if the caretaker is a court-appointed guardian for a child, regardless of the program of assistance request. A system release will be issued once this update is complete.

·        NH EASY will have an announcement displayed on the homepage that reads as follows:

 

“Court Appointed Guardians of dependent children may now be eligible for cash assistance, regardless if they are related or not. As of October 1, 2023, these Guardians can apply and receive cash assistance on behalf of the dependent children as long as all other eligibility requirements have been met.”

 

DESCRIPTION OF REVISIONS MADE TO FORMS

The following changes have been made to (BFA/NHEP/DDU) Forms and their Spanish translations:

 

·         BFA Form 77R Emergency Assistance for Housing

-   Update the website

-   Changed “relative” to “specified relative”

 

·         BFA Form 77X Resources for Grandparents Caring for Grandchildren

-   Updated the website

-   Changed “relative to specified relative”

-   Updated the monthly payment standard for FAP households

-   Updated the daily rates for foster care stipends

-   Updated contact information for other services

 

·         BFA Form 260 Financial Assistance to Needy Families Fact Sheet

-    Changed “relative” to “specified relative

 

The prior paper version of BFA Form #77R, Emergency Assistance for Housing, must be recycled and the new version used immediately. A Certificate of Destruction has been included with this SR. An initial order has been placed through the DHHS Warehouse/Logistics and will be automatically delivered to each DO.

 

New versions of the above BFA forms as well as the Spanish translated versions will also be available electronically on the DHHS website at http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/forms-documents-0  and NH EASY Gateway to Services at https://nheasy.nh.gov/#/forms.

 

Additionally, BFA Form 77X, Resources for Grandparents Caring for Grandchildren, BFA Form 260, Financial Assistance to Needy Families Fact Sheet, as well as the Spanish translated versions will be available exclusively electronically on the DHHS website at http://www.dhhs.nh.gov/forms-documents-0 and NH EASY Gateway to Services at https://nheasy.nh.gov/#/forms.

 

All of the above BFA Forms will also be available internally, for Department staff only, on the N:\ drive upon release of this SR.

 

POLICY MANUAL REVISIONS

Family Assistance Manual Topics

Section 203.01            New Hampshire Employment Program (NHEP)

Section 203.03            Family Assistance Program (FAP)

Section 203.09            Interim Disabled Parent (IDP)

Glossary                     S-Words

 

IMPLEMENTATION

  This policy is effective October 1, 2023.

 

CLIENT NOTIFICATION

No special client notification is planned or needed.

 

TRAINING

Update to training materials to include court-appointed guardians as having the same eligibility as a relative when specified relative is used in making determination for FANF financial programs.

 

FORMS MANUAL POSTING INSTRUCTIONS

Remove and Destroy

Insert/Replace

 

BFA Form #77R, Emergency Assistance for Housing,

DFA SR 15-15

3 panel double sided pamphlet

BFA Form #77R, Emergency Assistance for Housing,

BFA SR 23-41

3 panel double sided pamphlet

BFA Form #77R(Sp), Emergency Assistance for Housing,

DFA SR 15-15

3 panel double sided pamphlet

BFA Form #77R(Sp), Emergency Assistance for Housing,

BFA SR 23-41

3 panel double sided pamphlet

DFA Form #77R(i), Emergency Assistance for Housing,

DFA SR 15-15

1 Single sided sheet

BFA Form #77R(i), Emergency Assistance for Housing,

BFA SR 23-41

1 Single sided sheet

BFA Form #77X, Resources For Grandparents Caring for Grandchildren

BFA SR 18-31

1 double sided sheet

BFA Form #77X, Resources For Grandparents Caring for Grandchildren

BFA SR 23-41

1 double sided sheet

BFA Form #77X(Sp), Resources For Grandparents Caring for Grandchildren

BFA SR 18-31

1 double sided sheet

BFA Form #77X(Sp), Resources For Grandparents Caring for Grandchildren

BFA SR 23-41

1 double sided sheet

DFA Form #260, Financial Assistance to Needy Families Fact Sheet

DFA SR 11-30

BFA Form #260, Financial Assistance to Needy Families Fact Sheet

BFA SR 23-41

DFA Form #260(Sp), Financial Assistance to Needy Families Fact Sheet

DFA SR 11-30

BFA Form #260(Sp), Financial Assistance to Needy Families Fact Sheet

BFA SR 23-41

DFA Form #260(i), Financial Assistance to Needy Families Fact Sheet

DFA SR 11-30

BFA Form #260(i), Financial Assistance to Needy Families Fact Sheet

BFA SR 23-41

 

DISPOSITION

This SR may be destroyed or deleted after its contents have been noted and the revised manual topics released by this SR have been posted to the Online Manuals.

 

DISTRIBUTION

This SR will be distributed according to the electronic distribution list for BFA policy releases. This SR, and revised Online Manuals, will be available for agency staff in the Online Manual Library, and for public access on the Internet at https://www.dhhs.nh.gov/sr_htm/sr.htm, effective November 1, 2023.

 

BFA:rs

 

CERTIFICATE OF DESTRUCTION

  I certify that all copies of the forms mentioned in BFA SR 23-41 have been destroyed.

District Office Administrative Supervisor:   _________________________________________

District Office:   ______________________________________________________________

 

 

Return this certificate to the BFA Policy Unit, 129 Pleasant St, Brown Bldg, 3rd Floor, Concord, NH 03301, after the instructions in the SR have been carried out.