Program Authorization: Social Security Act as amended by P.L. 100-485; R.S. 46:237.1-236.2
The mission of the Client Payments Program is to pay financial benefits directly to, or on behalf of, those individuals and families who made application and were found eligible under the requirements of the appropriate program.
The goals of the Client Payments Program are:
1. Increase the ability of low-income individuals and families who are unable to provide fully for themselves or their families through employment or their own resources, to obtain basic necessities of life by providing money or grants, to or on behalf of those, who are eligible for assistance.
2. Reduce and avoid dependency on public assistance through the payments to custodial parents of child support collected from noncustodial parents, and to pay child support incentive payments to entities responsible for collections.
3. Supply funds directly to public assistance recipients or through purchases of service contracts for education and training services to enable them to achieve or move toward self-sufficiency.
4. Finance the provision of child care during education and training of Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program recipients during periods of transition to independence.
The Client Payments Program includes the following activities: Assistance Payments and FINDWORK Training Program.
The payments made serve to accomplish the office's primary mission of assisting vulnerable people in meeting their basic human needs of economic support and promoting self-sufficiency and independence.
OBJECTIVES AND PERFORMANCE INDICATORS
1. In FY 1998-99, the Office of Family Support will provide Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program (FITAP) benefits to an estimated caseload of 53,365 average monthly cases and FITAP-Two-Parent benefits to an average monthly caseload of 131. (Effective fiscal year 1998-99, child care needs of FITAP recipients will be met by the Child Care Assistance Programs.)
2. In FY 1998-99, the Office of Family Support will provide FINDWORK program supportive services on behalf of an estimated average monthly caseload of 18, 389 FINDWORK participants.
3. In FY 1998-99, the Office of Family Support will provide pass-through payments of child support on behalf of an estimated caseload of 156,811 persons.
4. In FY 1998-99, the Office of Family Support will provide pass-through payments of Non-IV-D child support on behalf of an estimated caseload of 845 persons.
5. In FY 1998-99, the Office of Family Support will continue to provide payments for its miscellaneous small programs, including an estimated number of 35 refugee cases (i.e., Refugee Assistance, United States Citizens Repatriated, Disaster assistance, Interagency transfer refugee payments) on an ongoing basis.
6. In FY 1998-99, the Office of Family Support, through its Child Care Assistance Program, will provide transitional child care to an estimated caseload of 1,306 average monthly former Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program (FITAP) families per month.
RESOURCE ALLOCATION FOR THE PROGRAM
This program is funded with general fund, self-generated revenues and federal funds. The self-generated revenues are from: (1) Title IV-D Child Support Enforcement collections, and (2) various other collections including the federal and pass-through portions of Child Support collections. The federal funds are from: (1) Social Security Act, Section 1113 and P.L. 86-571 for United States citizens returning from a foreign country due to mental illness or destitution (USCR), (2) Refugee Resettlement Act of 1980 (P.L. 212), (3) Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Grant, (4) Child Care Block Grant, and (5) U.S. Citizen Repatriation (P.L. 86-571 and Section 1113 of the Social Security Act).
The total means of financing for this program is recommended at 102.7% of the existing operating budget. It represents 93.8% of the total request ($235,082,281) for this program. The major changes reflected in the analysis of recommendation include: increased funding for the annualized cost of the Earned Income Disregard activity totaling $7,782,178; decreased funding for a workload decrease in the Family Independence temporary Assistance Program (FITAP) totaling ($16,844,520) which reflects a caseload reduction from 62,444 cases to 53,365; increased funding for a workload increase in the Family Independence Work Program (FINDWORK) totaling $20,977,299, which reflects a required Participation Rate increase from the current 25% to 35% by April 1999; Means of Financing adjustment for the federal match in the Child Care and Development Block Grant totaling $413,036 (general fund replacing federal funds); and technical adjustment transferring the Clerk of Court payments per Act 201 of 1997, from the Client Payments program to the Client Services program totaling ($5,944,451).
Included as a source of funding is the TANF grant. This grant is part of a comprehensive piece of federal legislation (The Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996) that will provide assistance to needy families with children so they can be cared for in their own home, and to reduce dependency by promoting job preparation, work and marriage. The legislation eliminates the open-ended federal entitlement program of Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) and places a time limitation on cash assistance. The legislation also makes changes to child care, the Food Stamps program, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for children, benefits for legal immigrants, and the Child Support Enforcement program. States must meet an 80% Maintenance-Of-Effort (MOE) to receive their full block grant allocation. The MOE level is based upon a state's Fiscal Year 1994 spending on AFDC, now called FITAP (Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program) and JOBS, now called FINDWORK.
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This program does not have funding for Professional Services for Fiscal Year 1998-1999 |
ACQUISITIONS AND MAJOR REPAIRS
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This program does not have funding for Acquisitions and Major Repairs for Fiscal Year 1998-1999. |