Title 63.2, Title 63.2. Welfare (Social Services)

A. If any otherwise qualified applicant for, or recipient of, benefits accruing under the provisions of this subtitle is or shall become unable to manage the funds accruing thereunder, or otherwise fails so to manage, to the extent that deprivation or hazard to himself or others …

No person shall make any charge or receive any fees for representing an applicant for or recipient of public assistance with respect to his application or request for increased assistance prior to a determination thereon by the local board, whether such fee or charge is paid by t…

All public assistance granted under this subtitle shall be deemed to be granted and to be held subject to the provisions of this subtitle and any amending or repealing act that may hereafter be passed, and no recipient shall have any claim for compensation, or otherwise, by reaso…

A person is responsible for the support and maintenance of any child or children living in the same home in which he and the natural or adoptive parent of such child or children cohabit as spouses and any such person who without cause willfully neglects or refuses or fails to pro…

Any assistance or part thereof erroneously paid to a recipient or former recipient may be recovered by the Board or local board from the recipient or former recipient as a debt. In accordance with Board regulations, the amount erroneously paid may also be recovered from the incom…

If at any time during the continuance of public assistance any change occurs, including but not limited to, the possession of any property or the receipt of regular income by the recipient or by any person who is included within a recipient's grant, that, in the circumstances upo…

A. Eligibility for public assistance shall be reconsidered in accordance with federal law or regulations by the local department at least annually or upon receipt of information indicating a change in the recipient's circumstances that may affect the amount of assistance paid to …

As soon as the local board makes any decision granting, denying, changing or discontinuing any grant of public assistance, it shall give written notice thereof to the applicant or recipient.

The local board shall preserve for such time as the Commissioner may prescribe, a record of its decision and all supporting documents and records including the findings and recommendations of the local director.

Any applicant or recipient aggrieved by any decision of a local board in granting, denying, changing or discontinuing public assistance, may, within thirty days after receiving written notice of such decision, appeal therefrom to the Commissioner. Any applicant or recipient aggri…

The Commissioner shall provide an opportunity for a hearing, reasonable notice of which shall be given in writing to the applicant or recipient and to the proper local board in such manner and form as the Commissioner may prescribe. The Commissioner may make or cause to be made a…

The decision of the Commissioner shall be binding and considered a final agency action for purposes of judicial review of such action pursuant to the provisions of the Administrative Process Act (§ 2.2-4000 et seq.).

Public assistance shall be paid to or on behalf of the applicant monthly, or at such other time or times as the regulations of the Board may provide, by the treasurer, the district fiscal officer, or other disbursing officer of the county or city, upon order of the local board or…

Any recipient of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or medical assistance who moves from one county or city in this Commonwealth to another county or city therein, shall thereafter be treated as if the grant of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or medical assistance ha…

Whoever obtains, or attempts to obtain, or aids or abets any person in obtaining, by means of a willful false statement or representation, or by impersonation, or other fraudulent device, public assistance or benefits from other programs designated under regulations of the Board,…

Whoever knowingly and with intent to defraud transfers, acquires, alters, traffics in or uses, or aids or abets another person in transferring, acquiring, altering, trafficking in, using, or possessing food stamps, electronic benefit transfer cards or other devices subject to Con…

Any individual applying for or receiving benefits under the federal Food Stamp program or the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program may be denied such benefits in accordance with federal law if such person is found by a court or pursuant to an administrative hearing to …

Notwithstanding any provision of §§ 2.2-2814, 2.2-2815, 2.2-2816, 2.2-2823, 2.2-2824, 2.2-2825 or § 2.2-2826 to the contrary, whenever there shall be authorized by law an assistant attorney for the Commonwealth and such assistant's duties consist of the prosecution of public assi…

A. The Department shall establish a statewide fraud control program to ensure that fraud prevention and investigation are pursued throughout the Commonwealth. The Board shall adopt regulations to implement the provisions of this section. B. Each local department shall establish f…

The Department shall provide notice regarding the availability of the federal earned income tax credit authorized in § 32 of the Internal Revenue Code and the state earned income tax credit authorized in subdivision B 2 of § 58.1-339.8 to all recipients of Temporary Assistance fo…

A. There is hereby created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program, hereinafter referred to as TANF or the "Program." The Program shall be administered by the Department in compliance with Titles IV-A and IV-F of the Social Security Act and related federal regulations…

The goals of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program are to: 1. Offer Virginians living in poverty the opportunity to achieve economic independence by removing barriers and disincentives to work and providing positive incentives to work; 2. Provide families living in …

A. There is hereby created in the state treasury a special nonreverting fund to be known as the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Fund, hereafter referred to as "the Fund." The Fund shall be established on the books of the Comptroller. All donations and contributions to the…

A. The Department shall develop a Statewide TANF Program Funding Pool Program (the Funding Pool Program) and shall allocate to the Funding Pool Program that portion of the TANF block grant to be awarded to service providers for expanded TANF programs, which shall include all fund…

A. A person shall be eligible for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families if that person: 1. Has not attained the age of 18 years, or, if a full-time student in a secondary school or in the equivalent level of career and technical education, has not attained the age of nineteen y…

An applicant for TANF shall provide verification that all eligible children not enrolled in school, licensed home-based child care as defined in § 22.1-289.02, or a licensed child day center as defined in § 22.1-289.02, have received immunizations in accordance with § 32.1-46. Ho…

Upon receipt of notification from a probation or parole officer that a TANF caretaker under his supervision has failed a drug test, the local department shall provide future TANF cash benefits to such caretaker's assistance unit as protective or vendor payments to a third party p…

In order to be eligible for TANF, members of the assistance unit, including minor custodial parents, shall be in compliance with compulsory school attendance laws (§ 22.1-254 et seq.). The Board shall adopt regulations to implement the provisions of this section, including proced…

A. Except as provided in subsection B, an unemancipated minor custodial parent may receive TANF for himself and his child only if the individual and his child reside in the home maintained by his parent or person standing in loco parentis. For purposes of TANF eligibility determi…

A person who is otherwise eligible to receive TANF assistance shall be exempt from the application of § 115(a)(1) of the federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, P.L. 104-193, and shall not be denied such assistance solely because he has be…

A. The Department shall establish and administer the Virginia Initiative for Education and Work (VIEW) to reduce long-term dependence on welfare, emphasize personal responsibility, and enhance opportunities for personal initiative and self-sufficiency by promoting the value of wo…

The following TANF recipients shall be exempt from mandatory participation in VIEW and shall remain eligible for TANF financial assistance: 1. Any individual, including all minor caretakers, under 16 years of age; 2. Any individual at least 16, but no more than 19 years of age, w…

A. In administering VIEW, the Department shall ensure that local departments provide delivery and coordination of all services through intensive case management. VIEW participants shall be referred to a case manager. The case manager shall fully explain VIEW to the participant an…

A. The Commissioner, through the local departments, with such funds as appropriated, shall offer families participating in VIEW intensive case management services throughout the family's participation in VIEW. Case management services shall include initial assessment of the full …

Unless otherwise exempt, VIEW participants and their families may receive TANF financial assistance for a maximum of 24 months only, subject to § 63.2-613. VIEW participants and their families may receive TANF financial assistance, if otherwise eligible, after a subsequent period…

The Board shall adopt regulations providing exceptions to the time limitations of this chapter in cases of hardship. In adopting regulations, the Board shall address circumstances: 1. Where a VIEW participant has been actively seeking employment by engaging in job-seeking activit…

A. Pursuant to regulations adopted by the Board, the parent of an eligible child or children who is married to a person not the parent of the child or children shall not be eligible for TANF if the parent's spouse's income, when deemed available to the family unit according to fe…

The Board may authorize the payment of tuition fees, transportation costs or other necessary or incidental expenses for obtaining skill development training or retraining for qualified public assistance recipients. The Board may, by regulation, prescribe necessary requisites and …

Local departments may combine community resources to assist the families of persons who may be in need because of the limitations on TANF financial assistance and may arrange for appropriate care of needy families where the limitation on TANF financial assistance as a result of t…

A. The Board shall adopt regulations to enable TANF-eligible applicants meeting certain criteria to receive at one time the maximum TANF cash assistance that the applicant would otherwise receive for a period up to 120 days or $1,500, whichever is greater. An individual may recei…

A participant aggrieved by the decision of a local board granting, denying, changing or discontinuing public assistance may appeal such decision pursuant to § 63.2-517. If a hearing request is received prior to the effective date of any proposed change in benefit status, a partic…

Recipients of TANF benefits pursuant to this chapter shall not access TANF cash benefits through an electronic benefit transaction (i) for the purchase of alcoholic beverages, tobacco products, lottery tickets, or sexually explicit visual materials as defined in § 18.2-374.1; (ii…

A. The General Assembly finds that faith-based, volunteer, private and community organizations make significant contributions to the welfare of our society and constitute an underutilized and underrepresented reservoir of assistance for social programs, and special efforts to inc…

A. The Board is authorized, in accordance with the federal Food Stamp Act, to implement a SNAP benefits program in which each political subdivision in the Commonwealth shall participate. Such program shall include participation in the Restaurant Meals Program and shall be adminis…

If a local board has exercised its option to establish a program of general relief, a person shall be eligible for such components of the general relief program as the locality chooses to provide if he is in need of general relief. The establishment of and continued participation…

The Commissioner shall establish an advocacy project to assist recipients of general relief or children entrusted or committed to foster care who may be eligible for federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits in obtaining such benefits. Local departments may determine an…