According to 13 CSR 40-2.310 (6), Temporary Assistance benefits are available only for children living with a parent or other eligible payee in a place of residence maintained as his/her home.
Home is interpreted to mean the family setting maintained or in the process of being established as evidenced by the assumption and continuance of responsibility for the child.
A home exists as long as the parent or other eligible payee takes responsibility for the full physical care and control of the child.
Circumstances may require temporary absence of either the child or the parent (or eligible payee) from the home. Temporary separations do not affect a child's eligibility for Temporary Assistance as long as the parent or eligible payee retains responsibility for the child's care, including situations such as the following:
Consider children attending school (such as colleges and vocational training schools) away from home as living in the home of the payee if the only reason they are living away from home is to attend school.
When living arrangements change so that the child may attend public grade or high school outside the child's own district, carefully determine who retains responsibility for care and control of the child and in whose home the child lives.
EXCEPTION: Children committed to state schools for the mentally retarded (such as the State School at Marshall), or to schools for delinquent children are not eligible for Temporary Assistance.
When a parent is temporarily absent due to school attendance, follow the same guidelines as Job Corps participants.
The parent has several options, depending on the family's situation.
EXAMPLE: The parent arranged for another relative to care for the child in his/her absence. The parent maintains contact with the child and provides for the child's needs.
EXAMPLE: The relative caring for the child is assuming responsibility for the child's needs. The parent will not have much contact or provide for the child's needs while participating in Job Corps.
EXAMPLE: Another relative is assuming responsibility for the Job Corps participant's and the child's needs. The parent is dependent upon this relative for his/her needs as well as the child's needs.
Assess the family's situation to determine which option best fits the family's circumstances.
13 CSR 40-2.365(1)(B) prohibits payment of Temporary Assistance to a parent or other caretaker who receives benefits for a child and fails to inform the Family Support Division of the child's absence by the end of a five day period that begins with the date it becomes clear to the parent or other caretaker that the child will be absent for more than 90 days.
Section 608(a)(5)(A) of the Social Security Act requires, as a condition of eligibility for Temporary Assistance, that a minor parent under the age of eighteen who is not married and who is applying for a child of his or her own must live in a place of residence maintained by his/her own parent, legal guardian, or other adult relative or in some other adult supervised supportive living arrangement. Exceptions to the requirement may be allowed in accordance with section 608(a)(5)(B) of the Social Security Act.
For purposes of this provision, a minor parent is a parent under the age of eighteen, including the month of his or her eighteenth birthday, who is not married and who has a dependent child in his or her care.
The place of residence maintained by the minor parent's own parent is the home of his or her biological or adoptive parent. The other adult relatives with whom the minor parent may live are those over the age of eighteen who meet the definition of an eligible caretaker relative, as described in section 0205.025.00 “Relationship of Payee to Child”.
An adult supervised supportive living arrangement means a private family setting or other living arrangement (not including a public institution), which is maintained as a family. Evidence of this is by the assumption of responsibility for the care and control of the minor parent and dependent, or the provision of supportive services, counseling, guidance, or supervision.
Exceptions to the required living arrangements for minor parents are allowed as follows:
If a minor parent claims to meet one of the reasons for exemption, use an appropriate source of verification, which would include a written statement by the applicant/participant to establish that the reason for exemption exists.
13 CSR 40-2.310(1)(B) states to be eligible for Temporary Assistance, the payee and children must be Missouri residents.
A state resident:
EXAMPLE: Ms. G left Oklahoma last week and came to Missouri with her two children. She was promised a job picking beans with a produce company she worked for in Oklahoma, Ms. G had not started to work, but plans to start next week. Ms. G and her two children meet the eligibility factor of residence.
Residence is retained until abandoned. Temporary absence from the state with subsequent returns, or intent to return when the purposes of the absence have been accomplished, does not interrupt continuity of residence.
Temporary Assistance participants may visit out-of-state for up to 60 days without interruption of benefits. It is the claimant's responsibility to notify FSD of absence, temporary address, and intended time of return.
If the participant has not contacted FSD at the planned time of return, send advance notice requesting contact. If no contact is made the case can be closed.
If absence is prolonged beyond the 60-day period and is due to the physical or mental condition of the recipient or spouse, the claimant must provide a physician's statement confirming the existence of a physical or mental condition. Continue for a reasonable limit not to exceed 90 days total.
No person is eligible to receive Temporary Assistance if residing in a public institution such as a jail, penitentiary, or correctional institution; training school for delinquents; county home (not leased); mental hospitals not operated by the state; tuberculosis hospitals not operated by the state; and similar institutions (not including general hospitals or infirmaries qualifying as public medical institutions) operated by the city, county, state, or federal government.
Do not consider children in State Schools for the Blind or Deaf as inmates of public institutions. They are eligible for Temporary Assistance if eligibility exists on all other factors.
A person on a conditional release from a public mental hospital is not an inmate of a public institution. He/she is free from control by the hospital other than for professional help or guidance related to his/her mental condition.