In this title, unless the context otherwise requires:

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1. "Aid to families with dependent children" means assistance granted under section 403 of title IV of the social security act as it existed before August 22, 1996.

2. "Applicant" means a person who has applied for assistance or services under this title, or a person who has applied for assistance or services under this title and who has custody of a dependent child.

3. "Assistance" means payments in cash or kind to or on behalf of a person or persons in need as provided for in this title.

4. "Assistance unit" means those members of a needy family, as prescribed by the department in rule, or a child only case, that meets the nonfinancial eligibility criteria for cash assistance and whose needs and other circumstances are considered as a whole to determine a cash assistance benefit amount.

5. "Cash assistance" means temporary assistance for needy families paid to a recipient for the purpose of meeting basic living expenses as defined by the department.

6. "Child care personnel" means any person who supervises children in a day care home or center that receives child care food program monies under this article.

7. "Child only case" means a case in which the eligible dependent child is in the legal custody of the department of child safety, a tribal court or a tribal child welfare agency located in this state and placed in foster care with an unrelated adult or with a nonparent relative who is not receiving cash assistance.

8. "Dependent child" means a needy child who has been deprived of parental support or care by reason of the death, unemployment of the supporting parent as defined and prescribed by the rules of the department, continued absence from the home, or physical or mental incapacity of a parent, and whose relatives who are responsible under the law for the child’s support are not able to provide adequate care and support of the child without public assistance, and who is living with his father, mother, grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister, stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, stepsister, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew or cousin in a place of residence maintained by one or more of such relatives as his or their own home or who is in the legal custody of the department of child safety and placed in a foster home or with an unrelated adult as a recipient of temporary assistance for needy families. Such dependent child must be under eighteen years of age or, if eighteen, must be a full-time student in a high school, or in the equivalent level of vocational or technical training, and shall be reasonably expected to complete the program before reaching age nineteen.

9. "Director" means the director of the department of economic security.

10. "Domestic violence" means battered or subject to extreme cruelty as defined in section 408(a)(7)(C)(iii) of the social security act.

11. "Employment plan" means an agreement between the department and the cash assistance recipient regarding the participant‘s work activities and services provided by the department.

12. "Federal poverty level" means the poverty guidelines that are issued by the United States department of health and human services pursuant to section 673(2) of the omnibus budget reconciliation act of 1981 and that are reported annually in the federal register.

13. "Head of household" means a dependent child’s parent or the spouse of the parent, or the dependent child’s nonparent relative or spouse of the nonparent relative, who receives cash assistance for himself and on behalf of the dependent child or only on behalf of the dependent child.

14. "Homestead property" means a home owned and occupied by the applicant or recipient, or his spouse.

15. "Jobs program" means services established by the department to ensure that participants comply with work requirements as prescribed in Public Law 104-193.

16. "Needy family":

(a) Means a family that resides in the same home and includes a dependent child, one or more of the dependent child’s parents and nonparent relatives of the dependent child and their spouses who meet financial cash assistance eligibility criteria established by this title and by department rule.

(b) Does not include a child only case.

17. "Nonparent relative" means a dependent child’s grandfather, grandmother, brother, sister, stepfather, stepmother, stepbrother, stepsister, uncle, aunt, niece, nephew or cousin and includes a permanent guardian who is appointed pursuant to section 8-872.

18. "Participant" means a recipient of cash assistance engaged in work activities through the JOBS program.

19. "Personal responsibility declaration" means a document that is prescribed by the department and in which the applicant acknowledges understanding of the applicant’s personal responsibility.

20. "Recipient" means a person who receives assistance or services under the provisions of this title.

21. "Services" includes social casework, rehabilitation counseling and similar services rendered to a person or persons in need as provided for in this title.

22. "Sponsor" means any political subdivision of this state, any federally recognized Indian tribe, any military base or any other person, partnership, corporation or association contracting with this state to provide assistance in the distribution of child care food program monies pursuant to this article.

23. "State department" or "department" means the department of economic security.

24. "Temporarily deferred" means the postponement of work activities.

25. "Temporary assistance for needy families" means assistance granted under section 403 of title IV of the social security act as it exists after August 21, 1996.

26. "Vendor payment" means any payment to a person other than the recipient on his behalf.

27. "Work activities" means the following activities that are countable toward the federal work participation rate as prescribed in Public Law 104-193, section 407 (1996):

(a) Unsubsidized employment.

(b) Subsidized private or public employment.

(c) Work experience.

(d) On-the-job training.

(e) Job search and job readiness assistance.

(f) Community service programs.

(g) Vocational educational training.

(h) Job skills training directly related to employment.

(i) Education directly related to employment in the case of a recipient who has not received a high school diploma or a certificate of high school equivalency.

(j) Satisfactory attendance at secondary school or in a course of study leading to a certificate of general equivalency, in the case of a recipient who has not completed secondary school or received such a certificate.