Arizona Laws 46-294. Duration of assistance
A. A needy family is ineligible for a cash assistance grant awarded under this article, except in case of hardship or as provided in subsection G of this section, if any of the following applies:
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 46-294
- Adult: means a person who has attained eighteen years of age. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Assistance: means payments in cash or kind to or on behalf of a person or persons in need as provided for in this title. See Arizona Laws 46-101
- 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. See Arizona Laws 46-101
- 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. See Arizona Laws 46-101
- 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. See Arizona Laws 46-101
- department: means the department of economic security. See Arizona Laws 46-101
- Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
- 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. See Arizona Laws 46-101
- 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. See Arizona Laws 46-101
- including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Minor: means a person under eighteen years of age. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Month: means a calendar month unless otherwise expressed. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- 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. See Arizona Laws 46-101
- Recipient: means a person who receives assistance or services under the provisions of this title. See Arizona Laws 46-101
- 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. See Arizona Laws 46-101
- United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Arizona Laws 1-215
1. The needy family includes a head of household or the spouse of the head of household who has received cash assistance for himself for a total of twelve months.
2. The needy family includes a cash assistance ineligible parent or the spouse of the ineligible parent who has received cash assistance on behalf of an eligible dependent child for a total of twelve months.
3. The needy family includes an adult nonparent relative head of household or the spouse of the adult nonparent relative head of household who has received cash assistance on behalf of an eligible dependent child for a total of twelve months.
B. The time limit prescribed in subsection A of this section applies retroactively to cash assistance received under this article or the Arizona works program on or after October 1, 2002. The time limit applies regardless of:
1. Whether the twelve months are consecutive.
2. The source of funding for the program.
C. The twelve month time limit prescribed in this section does not apply to child only cases.
D. In determining the number of months that assistance has been received, the department shall disregard any month during which assistance is received by:
1. A foster parent, an unrelated adult or a nonparent relative, in a child only case.
2. An assistance unit during the time in which the assistance unit resides on an Indian reservation in which the unemployment rate of the adults residing on the Indian reservation exceeds fifty percent.
3. An assistance unit if the cash assistance grant is less than the full monthly amount of cash assistance for which the assistance unit qualifies based on the date of the application.
4. An adult recipient who as a minor child was not a head of household or married to a head of household.
E. Except in case of hardship or as provided in subsection G of this section, an assistance unit in which any adult or minor parent of a dependent child who is a head of household or married to a head of household has received sixty months of assistance funded in whole or in part by the temporary assistance for needy families block grant in this or any other state or United States territory or from a tribal temporary assistance for needy families program shall not be eligible to receive under any circumstances more than sixty months of such assistance.
F. Consistent with the adopted state plan, cash assistance shall terminate on July 1, 2016 for any family, without regard to whether the family meets the financial criteria established for a needy family, that has received twelve or more months of cash assistance as of that date.
G. A needy family may receive cash assistance for an additional twelve months if both of the following apply:
1. The head of household or other adult household member who is required to participate in the work program is in full compliance and remains in full compliance with all work activity requirements of the program.
2. Each dependent child in the assistance unit, who is required to attend school pursuant to section 15-803, not including child only cases, has a school attendance record of at least ninety percent unless the child was excused pursuant to section 15-802, subsection D, paragraph 1, 3, 5, 6 or 7.