Operating TANF: Opportunities and Challenges for Tribes and Tribal Consortia

Appendices

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Contents

1. Appendix 1: Required Components of a Tribal Tanf Plan
2. Appendix 2: Tribal Tanf Reporting Requirements

Appendix 1.
Required Components of a Tribal TANF Plan

Required Components of a Tribal TANF Plan

The contents of a Tribal TANF plan are delineated in Section 412(b) of title IV-A of the Social Security Act, as amended by Public Law 104-193, and at 45 CFR Part 286. The plan contents must include the following elements.

1. Specify the tribe's approach to providing welfare-related services
2. Specify whether the welfare-related services will be provided directly by the tribe or through agreements, contracts, or compacts with intertribal consortia, states, or other entities
3. Identify the population and service area to be served
4. Prohibit families receiving assistance under the tribal plan from receiving duplicative assistance from a state or other tribe
5. Identify the employment opportunities in or near the service area and how the tribe will cooperate and enhance such opportunities for recipients consistent with any applicable state standards
6. Apply the fiscal accountability provisions of section 5(f)(1) of the Indian Self-Determination Act (25 U.S.C. 450c(f)(1)), relating to the submission of a single-state agency audit report
7. Minimum work participation requirements
8. Appropriate time limits for the receipt of welfare-related services
9. Penalties against individuals who violate program rules
10. The tribe's goals in relation to work and self-sufficiency for families and explanation of how the tribal program will meet these goals.
11. Successful program outcomes and what results will be measured
12. A statement indicating how tribal members and others were involved in designing the TANF program and whether the public had an opportunity to review and comment on the tribal TANF plan
13. Specify how "needy families" are defined, including a description of which family members will be included in the TANF assistance unit, as well as the tribe's definition of either "Indian family" or "tribal member family"
14. A description of the income and resource levels that will qualify a family for assistance
15. A description of how assistance and services, including supportive services and child care, will be provided to needy families
16. Whether the assistance and services will be provided through cash, in kind, vouchers, or a combination
17. Whether assistance and services will be provided, and for how long, to families who are working, and for those who are no longer eligible for tribal TANF assistance because of a mix of earned and unearned income (for example, child support payments)
18. A description of how the privacy of families will be protected
19. A description of the process available to applicants and recipients to challenge decisions

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Appendix 2.
Tribal TANF Reporting Requirements

Sections 411 and 412 of Title IV-A, of the Social Security Act, PRWORA, as amended, require that tribal TANF programs collect data each month and submit quarterly reports to DHHS. The quarterly reports are to include:

• The county of residence of the family
• Whether adults or children in the family are receiving federal disability insurance benefits, benefits based on federal disability status, aid under a state plan approved under Title XIV, supplemental security income benefits
• The number of individuals in the family, their ages, and the relation of each family member to the head of the family
• The employment status and earnings of the employed adult in the family
• The marital status of the adults in the family, including whether such adults have never married, are widowed, or divorced
• The race and educational level or status of each adult and child in the family
• Whether the family received subsidized housing, medical assistance under the state plan, food stamps, or subsidized child care and, if so, how much received
• The number of months that the family has received each type of assistance under the program
• If adults in the family participated in the program, the number of hours per week of participation and education, subsidized private-sector employment, unsubsidized employment, public-sector employment, work experience, community service, job search, job skills training or on-the-job training, vocational education
• Information necessary to calculate participation rates
• The type and amount of assistance received under the program, including the amount of and reason for any reduction of assistance, including sanctions
• Any unearned income received by any member of the family
• The citizenship of the members of the family
• From a sample of closed cases, the reasons the family left the program, including employment, marriage, the prohibition set forth in Section 408 (a) (7), sanction, tribal policy, or if applicable, a state policy
• For each family member who was not attained age 20, [unclear]and whether the individual is a parent or child in the family

In addition to the family-level data required, PRWORA requires that the tribe report detailed aggregated program-level data including:

• The percentage of the funds they allocate to the Indian tribe to be used for administrative costs or overhead
• The total amount expended by the tribe on programs for needy families
• The number of noncustodial parents and the tribal service area who participated in work activities during the quarter
• The total amount expended by the Indian tribe during the quarter to provide transitional services to a family that had ceased to receive assistance because of employment, along with a description of such services
• The number of families and individuals receiving assistance under the tribal program, including the number of two-parent and one-parent families
• The total dollar value of TANF assistance received by all families

The Balanced Budget Act of 1997 (PL 105-33) further amended Section 411 of the Social Security Act byPRWORA, adding additional data collection and reporting requirements for tribes that receive WtW grants; these additional requirements include detailed family-level data, including:

• Any activity described in Section 403(a)(5)(c)(i) engaged in by a family member
• The total amount expended during the month on the family member for such activity
• If the family member is engaged in unsubsidized employment or on-the-job training under the program, the wage paid to the family member and the amount of any wage subsidy provided to the family member from federal or state funds
• If the participation of a family member in the program ended during a month due to the family member obtaining employment, the wage of the family member in the employment and whether the participation ended due to the family member obtaining unsubsidized employment, obtaining subsidized employment, receiving an increased wage, engaging in a work-training activity under a program funded other than under Section 403(a)(5), or for other reasons.

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