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The OFA PeerTA Archive captures historical information from the peerta.acf.hhs.gov website for reference and record-keeping purposes. The PeerTA site contains information posted within the past three years. You can search for any prior information below.

Question / Response(s)

A representative from the Kansas Department for Children and Families (KDCF) stated that Kansas recently passed suspicion-based drug testing requirements for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) applicants and recipients. Any adult who demonstrates substance abuse symptoms is required to be tested for controlled substances. This statute is to be implemented by January 1, 2014. If any State has a position description and/or flowchart of their process that they can share, please contact Judy Kennedy, TANF Program Manager at judy.kennedy@dcf.ks.gov. Questions that they have include:

Pre-testing
-What determines if and when a person gets tested in your State?
-Would you be willing to share the criteria used to determine your referral for testing?
-Who monitors the referrals for drug testing, if anyone?
Testing
-What type of test does your State utilize to determine if a person is abusing drugs?
-Do you have a contract with a vendor to administer and monitor the results, or is the drug testing done by existing staff?
-What substances does your State test for?
-What type of testing do you administer and where is testing administered?
-How do you test when an individual lives in an isolated or rural area when drug testing sites are not readily available?
-Have you experienced many false positives test results due to prescription drugs used for medical purposes?
-Have you encountered or had to address any HIPPA issues with regards to a person's medical information?
Treatment
-If substance abuse treatment is part of the eligibility requirement for TANF in your State, who is responsible to pay for this?
-Does your State set a defined time period for which an individual must undergo treatment prior to regaining eligibility for TANF? If so, what is it? If not, how do you determine or "define" when an individual has completed treatment.
-In addition to treatment, are individuals who test positive required to complete any additional requirements prior to regaining eligibility for TANF?

Webinar / Webcast

The Office of Family Assistance hosted a webinar, "Leveraging TANF Funds and Strategic Partnerships to Improve Housing Stability and Economic Outcomes for Low-Income Families." The webinar provided an overview of Federal regulations relating to…

Peer TA Products (miscellaneous)

In December 2011, representatives from the Jefferson County Department of Human Services, Career and Family Support Services, Colorado Works and Child Care Assistance Program contacted the Welfare Peer TA (WPTA) Network for assistance in determining…

Webinar / Webcast

On November 28, 2012, the Office of Family Assistance hosted the second Webinar in a series highlighting promising practices for building sustainable subsidized employment programs. This Webinar provided an overview of the available funding…

Toolkit

Developed by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, the Urban Partnerships Initiative is a project designed to improve outcomes for low-income families by…

Question / Response(s)

A representative from the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families would like to know if any states provide cash incentives to noncustodial parents (NCP's) as a component of TANF employment programs?

Question / Response(s)

A representative from the Nevada Division of Welfare & Supportive Services is seeking information about document management systems in other States that satisfy all of their outgoing program correspondence needs and meets the following minimum criteria:

  • SOFTWARE CRITERIA: The software must run on AIX or Windows servers and must provide API's that can be called in Java or EGL code. We need one solution that will work for mainframe and server applications. The software must be able to convert all our existing Adobe forms. The software must include support for IBM mainframe printers (see attached example). The marks in the margin are required for mainframe printing to indicate how many pages must be grouped and stuffed into a single envelope. The software should include SOA support so that it can be called as a service. The software must support PDF files. The software must support the use of all special characters, so Spanish forms can be developed.
  • SYSTEM CRITERIA: The system must allow for forms to be modified without requiring each form be initiated manually (i.e. the form should be generated automatically unless the user chooses to review and/or modify the form first). The system must make the form instantly available for review and/or modification. The system must allow for selection of either a Spanish or English version of a form on demand

Report

On September 11-12, 2012, the Office of Family Assistance (OFA) Regions V and VII convened State TANF program directors and other key stakeholders in Chicago, Illinois to strategically engage with peers on effectively providing services to…

Report

The Administration for Children and Families, Office of Family Assistance, Region VI hosted a hands-on and interactive training for TANF programs on September 11-13, 2012. The 2012 Fiscal and Data Management Workshop in Dallas, Texas covered…

Report

A strong, stable, and comprehensive social safety-net is critical to the well-being of low-income and working families. Strong partnerships not only improve the quantity of services delivered, but also contribute to the overall quality of…

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