WAC 110-15-0012. Verifying consumers' information

(1) DSHS may require the consumer to provide verification of child care subsidy eligibility if DSHS is unable to verify it through agency records or systems. The information and verification provided to DSHS from the consumer must: (a) Clearly relate to the request made by DSHS; (b) Be from a reliable source; (c) Be accurate and complete; and (d) If DSHS has reasonable cause to believe the information and verification the consumer provides is unreliable, inaccurate, incomplete, or inconsistent, DSHS may: (i) Ask the consumer to provide additional verification that may include a statement from a person who lives outside of the consumer's residence who knows the consumer's circumstances; (ii) Send an investigator from the DSHS office of fraud and accountability (OFA) to make an unannounced visit to the consumer's home to verify the consumer's circumstances. Consumer's rights are found in WAC 110-15-0025 ; or (iii) Deny the application, request for reduced copay, or request for additional child care. (2) Gross income of consumers with more than ninety days of employment must be employer-verified. If the consumer has less than ninety days of employment, the consumer must provide verification from the employer within sixty days from the approval date. (3) DSHS may only request verification for changes during the family's eligibility period that reduce a copayment or increase the authorized amount of care, if agency records or systems cannot provide verification. (4) If DSHS is unable to verify household composition of a single-parent household through agency records, the single-parent consumer must provide the name and address of the child's other parent, or declare, under penalty of perjury: (a) That the other parent's identity and address are unknown to the consumer; or (b) That providing this information will likely result in serious physical or emotional harm to the single-parent consumer or another person residing with the single-parent consumer; and (c) Whether the other parent is present or absent in the household. (5) DSHS will pay for requested verification that requires payment; however, this does not include payment for a self-employed consumer's state business registration or license, which is a cost of doing business.