Requirement that All Recipients for the Payment of Temporary Assistance Shall Complete an Assessment and May Be Required To Complete an Individual Employment Plan

PURPOSE: This rule requires that all applicants/recipients for the payment of Temporary Assistance shall complete an assessment and may be required to complete an individual responsibility plan which is termed an Individual Employment Plan (IEP). (1) Initial Assessment. (A) For the purpose of the administration of the Temporary Assistance Program, the Family Support Division shall make an initial assessment of the skills, prior work experience, and employability of each applicant/recipient of assistance under the program who is the head of household or second parent and— 1. Has attained eighteen (18) years of age; or 2. Has not completed high school or obtained a certificate of high school equivalency and is not attending secondary school. (B) The assessment described in subsection (1)(A) shall be completed at application. (C) On the basis of the assessment made under subsection (1)(A) with respect to an individual, the Family Support Division shall refer the recipient to the contracted service provider or its designee to negotiate an Individual Employment Plan (IEP) with the individual, unless the person meets an exclusion or exemption under 13 CSR 40-2.315(2)(C) and 13 CSR 40-2.315(2)(D). (2) Individual Employment Plan. (A) The contracted service provider or its designee shall develop with the individual an IEP which— 1. Sets forth an employment goal for the individual and a plan for moving the individual into employment as soon as possible and will include a requirement that the individual participate in an allowable/countable work activity for the minimum required hours outlined in 13 CSR 40-2.315; 2. To the greatest extent possible is designed to move the individual into whatever employment the individual is capable of handling as quickly as possible by establishing short- and long-term educational/occupational goals; 3. Assesses the individual’s barriers that may hinder the individual’s ability to seek and/or obtain employment. Those barriers may include (but are not limited to): substance abuse, legal issues, child care, healthcare, transportation, and education; 4. Identify available support services, such as subsidized child care, medical services, and transportation benefits, to help ensure that the family will become self-sustaining and will be less likely to return to public assistance; 5. Address circumstances creating barriers to self-sufficiency and may be updated and adjusted to identify and address the removal of these barriers; and 6. Ascertain the skills of the individual that will expand the individual’s opportunity to obtain employment. (3) The Family Support Division shall encourage families who have an IEP to make full use of the federal earned income tax credit. (4) If an individual in a family fails to cooperate in developing, or fails to comply with the requirements of, the IEP without good cause as defined in 13 CSR 40-2.315, the division shall sanction the individual as provided in 13 CSR 40-2.315. AUTHORITY: section 207.020, RSMo 2000 and section 208.040.5, RSMo Supp. 2010.* Emergency rule filed Feb. 18, 1998, effective March 1, 1998, terminated Aug. 10, 1998. Original rule filed Jan. 16, 1998, effective Aug. 1, 1998. Amended: Filed June 1, 2007, effective Dec. 30, 2007. Amended: Filed Sept. 21, 2010, effective April 30, 2011. *Original authority: 207.020, RSMo 1945, amended 1961, 1965, 1977, 1981, 1982, 1986, 1993 and 208.040.5, RSMo 1939, amended 1941, 1949, 1951, 1953, 1955, 1957, 1973, 1977, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1987, 1994, 1999, 2001, 2009.