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TANF is:

v     Temporary Assistance for Needy Children (formerly AFDC, Aid For Families With Dependent Children)

v     Cash assistance, often called "Welfare," which is distributed by the Texas Health and Human Services Commission (TxHHSC, formerly the Texas Department of Human Services)

v     Available for single and two-parent families based upon financial need, as well as certain grandparents who care for their grandchildren

v     One Time Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (OTTANF):

Ø      One time emergency assistance is available to households facing financial crisis or an emergency

Ø      OTTANF allows households to receive a lump-sum cash assistance payment of $1,000

Ø      The household cannot currently be receiving TANF but must be eligible to receive TANF

Ø      The purpose of the OTTANF payment is to help solve a short-term crisis and prevent households from receiving monthly TANF benefits

Ø      You have a choice of whether you want to receive TANF or OTTANF.

Ø      If you choose OTTANF, you cannot receive any other form of TANF for the next 12 months

Ø      To receive OTTANF, the household must meet one of four crisis criteria:

§         Recent loss of job - the parent/caretaker must have a loss of employment within two months of application, however,

·        The parent/caretaker may not voluntarily quit a job without good cause, and

·        Temporary leave without pay from a job does not constitute loss of employment.

§         The dependent children in the household must have a loss of "financial support" from a parent or stepparent within the last 12 months through death, divorce, separation, abandonment, or through termination of child support

¨      "Financial support" is help from another parent when paying for basic living expenses such as rent, utilities, or food, and includes child support

¨      The parent/caretaker must have been employed within the 12 months before the application or process month.

§         The parent/caretaker graduated from a university, college, junior college, or technical training school within the last 12 months, and is unemployed or underemployed. The parent/caretaker must:

·        provide proof of degree or certificate of completion from a technical training school, junior college, college, or university (including beauty, nursing, or vocational school);

·        not currently be enrolled in an institution of higher learning; and

·        have received TANF (in Texas) anytime in the 12 months before enrolling, or while attending a college, university, or technical training school.

§         The parent/caretaker is currently employed but faces crisis situation because of:

·        Loss or potential loss of transportation - The parent/caretaker is unable to get to work because of the loss of a vehicle.  The loss of a vehicle can be because of needed repairs, lack of insurance, lack of necessary inspection, repossession, or threat of repossession.

·        Loss or potential loss of shelter - The household may lose shelter because of foreclosure, eviction, condemnation, or threat of any of these.

·        A medical emergency prevents the parent/caretaker from continuing to work because the parent/caretaker has a medical emergency or is needed to provide temporary care for a household member who is ill or injured. A normal pregnancy or maternity leave is not a medical emergency.