As an eligibility specialist, you use Ohio SACWIS to determine a child’s eligibility for federally funded programs under Title IV-E. The programs include foster care maintenance (FCM) and adoption assistance (AA) payments for eligible children in temporary or permanent custody of your agency. (See Determine eligibility for adoption assistance.)
An eligibility record must exist for each custody episode. The system automatically creates an eligibility record in "Pending" status when a worker records on the child's person profile an "initial" agency legal status for the custody episode. (See Record a child's legal status or Record a court ruling.) Before determining a child's eligibility for IV-E FCM, you must wait until a judicially determined custody type is entered into Ohio SACWIS for the child, as well as the applicable "best interest" and "reasonable efforts" rulings.
The system obtains some of the information used in eligibility determinations from other areas. See Information collected for determining IV-E FCM eligibility for a summary.
If the child is eligible for FCM, the agency is generally reimbursed for payments made during a placement episode. (See Determine reimbursability for IV-E FCM.)
(OAC 5101:7-1-04) (Appendix A 5101:1-23-04) An "Intentional Program Violation" is defined as an action by an individual, for the purpose of establishing or maintaining the family's eligibility for ADC (OWF) or for increasing or preventing a reduction in the amount of the grant, which is intentionally:
A false or misleading statement or misrepresentation, concealment, or withholding of facts;
Any act intended to mislead, misrepresent, conceal, or withhold facts or propound a falsity.
This budget only applies to individuals who have been permanently disqualified from the ADC (OWF) Program.
Income of an individual in receipt of SSI (or in receipt of other Social Security benefits along with SSI) is not countable in the calculation.
ProcessDetermine a child's eligibility for IV-E FCM as follows:
Click the Financial tab at the top of the screen.
Click the Eligibility tab.
Click the Eligibility/Reimbursability link in the left navigation bar. The Child Selection search screen appears.
If you have the child's ID; enter it in the Person's ID field. Click Go.
OR
To search the child's ID; click Person Search, then locate and select the child whose eligibility you want to view. Click Select to select the child. You are returned to the Child Search screen.
Click the Edit link to complete an existing eligibility record that's in "Pending" status, or click Add Eligibility to create a new eligibility determination record. The Eligibility Details screen appears.
The system defaults to an Initial determination type. You cannot edit the Determination Type field if it has been pre-filled from the initial agency legal status record.
Complete these fields if the default information is not correct:
Determination Type (if enabled)
Effective Date
Eligibility Month
If this eligibility record was created automatically when an "initial" agency legal status record was created, the Determination Type field is disabled. The Effective Date field reflects the initial custody effective date, and the Eligibility Month field reflects the month and year of the custody effective date.
The child is not actually eligible until the agency receives a judicially determined custody type, as well as "best interest" and "reasonable efforts" rulings. For example, if the legal status "Officer Acceptance" is recorded on March 1, 2008, the pending Initial IV-E FCM eligibility determination record will reflect an effective date of 03/01/2008. If the agency then receives a Temporary Court Order and the rulings on March 2, you would enter 03/02/2008 for the effective date.
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