Chapter 02-01.2. Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program

Benefits are granted in whole dollar amounts. In calculating benefit amounts, numbers are rounded down to the nearest whole dollar. History: Effective December 9, 1996; amended effective January 1, 2003. General Authority: NDCC 50-09-02, 50-09-25 Law Implemented: NDCC 50-09-02

A benefit payment may not be issued if the calculated benefit is less than ten dollars, but the household must be treated for all other purposes of this chapter as a household to which the department makes a benefit payment. History: Effective December 9, 1996; amended effective …

1. All income that is actually available must be considered. Income is actually available if it is at the disposal of an applicant or recipient; if the applicant or recipient has a legal interest in a liquidated sum and has the legal ability to make the sum available for support …

1. The following income must be excluded in determining eligibility for assistance: a. All earned income of any child, except a minor parent, attending elementary or high school full time; b. A loan from any source that is subject to a written agreement requiring repayment by the…

Repealed effective January 1, 2003.

1. Budgeting is the process by which a household's need is determined. Through the process available, income is matched against the standard of need. 2. If nonexcluded income equals or exceeds the standard of need, the household is not needy, and the household is ineligible for a…

The applicant or applicant household is subject to a net income test. The net income test compares the standard of need, personal needs allowance for out-of-home eligible individuals, and special items 34 of need to the adjusted net income. If the adjusted net income is less than…

1. All income must be considered in establishing eligibility and in determining the cash grant amount. 2. Income must be reasonably evaluated. A determination that income is deemed available is a determination that the income is actually available. 3. Income from wages, or any ot…

1. Earned income must be verified and documented in the case record. Earned income may be received from a variety of sources. 2. Net earned income is determined by adding monthly net income from self-employment to other monthly earned income and subtracting the applicable deducti…

1. The department shall establish an employment incentive, and an employment incentive limit, to reasonably encourage household members to earn income. 2. If permitted under subsection 3, income must be disregarded, as an employment incentive, in determining the cash grant amount…

No household member, except a dependent child, may refuse a bona fide offer of employment or training for employment, or terminate employment, without good cause, within thirty days before the date of application. 1. If an offer of employment or training was made through job serv…

1. A deduction for a member of a household who is an employed caretaker relative may be made for the cost of necessary care of a child or incapacitated adult who is a member of the household, living in the home, and receiving assistance. 2. The deduction may not be made for the c…

1. Unearned income must be verified and documented in the case record. 2. All unearned income must be treated as available in the month in which the income is received unless the income is disregarded. Unearned income must be applied to determine eligibility for, and the amount o…

Repealed effective April 1, 2026.

Repealed effective April 1, 2026.

Repealed effective April 1, 2026.

1. If the individual being added to a household did not receive assistance in the previous month, assistance for the added individual is based on a pro rata portion equal to the percentage of the month remaining after the date of birth of a newborn, provided the request for the n…

1. If an individual who was a household member leaves the household during a benefit month, the individual is included in the household during that month. 2. Eligibility must be recalculated beginning the month following the month the individual left, the household. History: Effe…

1. The amount of a household's cash grant must be reduced by the deemed income of a stepparent who lives in the home, but who is not a member of the household. 2. To encourage marriage among single-parent families and assist those families when the primary individual in a househo…

grant. If an individual is subject to sanction, that individual's needs are removed from the cash grant and that individual's income and assets must be considered in determining the eligibility and needs of the remaining members of the household. History: Effective December 9, 19…

1. If a child leaves the residence occupied by the household to attend boarding school, the child is treated as having left on the first day of the month following the month in which the child actually left. 2. If a child returns from boarding school to the residence occupied by …

1. Except as provided in subsection 3, if an eligible child lives in the home of a relative who is not the child's parent, the relative is ineligible if the relative's spouse also lives in the home. 2. If an eligible child lives in the home of a relative who is not the child's pa…

1. The human service zone may determine a service, which the family cannot perform independently because of infirmity or illness, is essential to the well-being of the household. 2. "Essential service" includes housekeeping services and child care during a caregiver's illness or …

1. The human service zone may authorize vendor payments for the replacement of food, clothing, furniture, household equipment, and supplies, as a special item of need, at a level comparable to that maintained by the household prior to a flood, fire, storm, or other disaster, if: …

1. The human service zone may authorize payment for the cost of premiums for health insurance carried by the household, as a special item of need. Payment may be made for only one policy of health insurance. If the policy covers individuals who are not members of the household, p…

The human service zone may authorize payment, as a special item of need, to members of the household for the verified cost of an approved child restraint system designed to secure a child while riding in a passenger vehicle. History: Effective December 9, 1996; amended effective …

The human service zone may authorize a one-time payment of an amount determined by the department, as a special item of need, to each individual in the household upon completion of high school or receipt of general equivalency diploma. History: Effective December 9, 1996; amended…

The human service zone may authorize, as a special item of need, an amount determined by the department when a family has an independent living arrangement and the members of the family have sole responsibility for all housing costs. History: Effective January 1, 2011; amended ef…

1. The usual method of providing assistance under this chapter is through payments by check, direct deposit, or credit on account, immediately redeemable at par, made to the caretaker relative or legal guardian at regular intervals, with no restrictions on the use of the funds. T…

Each household shall have a designated payee who must be the primary individual unless there is a protective payee. History: Effective December 9, 1996; amended effective January 1, 2003. 46 General Authority: NDCC 50-09-02, 50-09-25 Law Implemented: NDCC 50-09-02…

1. A payment of a cash grant is deemed to be complete as of 12:01 a.m. on the first day of the month for which it is issued. 2. Except as provided in subsection 3, a payment check must be endorsed by the payee, or an attorney-in-fact for the payee, with a signature, written in in…

1. For purposes of this section: a. "Intentional program violation" means an individual's intentional action or failure to act which consists of: (1) Making a false or misleading statement or misrepresenting, concealing, or withholding facts; (2) Violating provisions of North Dak…

1. An individual may not be included in the cash grant if the individual is: a. Fleeing to avoid prosecution, or custody or confinement after conviction, under the laws of the place from which the individual flees, for a crime, or an attempt to commit a crime, which is a felony u…

The human service zone may authorize an amount to be determined by the department, as a special item of need, to all members of a household, under age twenty-one, who complete a health tracks screening. This amount may only be authorized and issued once every twelve months, begin…

Repealed effective January 1, 2011.

Repealed effective January 1, 2011. 50

Repealed effective January 1, 2011.

Repealed effective January 1, 2011.

Repealed effective January 1, 2003.

program requirements. 1. Temporary assistance for needy families participants who fail or refuse to comply with program requirements, without good cause, may be sanctioned. Actions or failures to comply that may result in sanctions include: a. Failure or refusal to participate in…

1. Except with respect to a sanction imposed for failure to obtain child support, or establish paternity, an individual must be provided an opportunity to present the good cause reason for a failure or refusal to cooperate prior to the imposition of a sanction. 2. The eligibility…

social contract. Repealed effective January 1, 2011.

For purposes of the job opportunities and basic skills program: 1. "Eligible individual" means an adult or minor child head of household receiving assistance or a nonrecipient parent living with a child receiving assistance. 52 2. "Employment contractor" means the job opportuniti…

Repealed effective January 1, 2009.

1. Except as otherwise provided in this section, all work-eligible individuals and all eligible children, age sixteen or older, who have completed high school or received a general equivalency diploma and who are not enrolled in secondary or vocational education or employed or wh…

1. The work activities of the job opportunities and basic skills program include: a. Unsubsidized employment; b. Subsidized public or private sector employment; c. On-the-job training; d. Public or private work experience; e. Job search and job readiness activities; f. Community …

program. Tribal native employment works programs are available to enrolled or enrollable members of tribes who live in that tribe's service area, who receive a temporary assistance for needy families cash grant, and who reside in a county within which there is a tribal native emp…