OKDHS.org - OAC 340:40-7-6. Household composition and income consideration

Calendar | Help | Contact Us | About this Site

Library: Policy

340:40-7-6. Household composition and income consideration

<< Back

Next >>

Revised 6-1-09

(a) Definition of household composition terms. The worker determines household composition for income considerations using the definition of terms listed in (1) through (9) of this subsection.

(1) An adult is an emancipated minor or person 18 years of age or older. A child who is also a parent is considered an adult.
(2) A spouse is a person married by ceremony or common-law to another person. They can be living together or separately. If they are living separately, they are considered part of the household if the separation is temporary with no intention of severing the marital relationship or the separation is involuntary.
(3) A stepparent is a person who is a spouse or has been a spouse to the child's parent.
(4) A caretaker is an adult that the child is living with who is acting in the role of a parent. This person may or may not be related to the child by blood, adoption, or marriage and may or may not be legally and financially responsible for the child. The caretaker must pursue child support from the natural or adoptive parent in accordance with OAC 340:40-7-9.
(5) A non-relative adult is defined as any person over 18 years of age or an emancipated minor who is not related to the parent or caretaker by blood, adoption, or marriage.
(6) The term legally and financially responsible adult is defined as a parent or stepparent of the child for whom child care is needed. The term also includes other caretaker adults who are court-ordered to be legally and financially responsible for the child.
(7) A child is any unmarried, unemancipated, non-parental person under 18 years of age.
(8) A child who has married or voluntarily left the parental home for any reason and established independent living arrangements, other than being away from home for school or health reasons, is considered emancipated and treated as an adult. Once a child is emancipated, the emancipation is permanent.
(9) A sibling is a minor child who has at least one parent in common with another child in the same household. This definition of a sibling also includes a step-brother or step-sister.

(b) Household composition and income consideration. To establish a child's eligibility for subsidized child care benefits, it is necessary to define who must be considered part of household composition for income consideration. • 1 Persons whose income must be considered in determining eligibility are:

(1) the natural, adoptive, or stepparent of the child who lives in the home and for whom child care is needed; • 2
(2) the caretaker(s) of the minor child who needs child care if that caretaker is legally and financially responsible for the child; • 3
(3) the child for whom child care is requested and his or her siblings under 18 who live in the home; • 4
(4) any non-relative adult of the opposite sex who is living in the home with the natural or adoptive parent; and • 5
(5) any child of the non-relative adult of the opposite sex who is living in the home with the natural or adoptive parent. • 6

(1) When a household member is out of the home due to a temporary absence, he or she is still considered a household member as long as he or she plans to return to the home. • 7 Examples of temporary absence include:
- (A) a hospitalization for physical or mental health reasons;
- (B) incarceration; • 8
- (C) attending school;
- (D) military service; • 9
- (E) working or training away from home; • 10
- (F) looking for a job away from home. See OAC 340:40-7-8(a)(6); • 10 and
- (G) vacation time for a child. • 11
(2) If a child lives with each parent for part of the month, see (d) in this Section.
(3) If a child lives with a parent for part of the month and a caretaker for the rest of the month, the child's eligibility is based on whether the parent meets the eligibility factors in accordance with OAC 340:40-7. The caretaker must also meet a need factor in accordance with OAC 340:40-7-7 during the time he or she has physical custody of the child. • 12

(d) Joint or shared custody. When parents separate or divorce and share custody of their child, either voluntarily or through a court order, the worker considers each parent's eligibility separately as well as his or her income. If only one parent qualifies for subsidized child care benefits, only the days and hours of care needed while that parent has physical custody of the child is approved. If both parents qualify for subsidized child care benefits, each parent is approved only for the days and hours that parent has physical custody and meets a need factor. • 13

INSTRUCTIONS TO STAFF 340:40-7-6

Revised 10-1-09

1. (a) See OAC 340:40-7-10 through 340:40-7-13 for information on considering income for persons who must be included in the household.

(b) If a child is living with a parent for part of each month and with a caretaker for the remainder of the month, only one case is established for the child. See (c) of this Section and Instructions to Staff # 7.

(c) In the Household tab in Family Assistance/Client Services (FACS), the worker chooses "social services" in the "benefit" field F24 and "added to benefit section" in the "status" field F25 to add only the children being approved for child care. All other household members are shown as "not included in benefit. Income and resources are considered in benefit computation" in the "status" field F25.

(d) If some children living in the household are exempt from co-payment in accordance with OAC 340:40-7-1 and others are not, two separate cases must be established in order for the system to calculate the family share co‑payment correctly.

(e) When an adoptive parent requests child care for a child who meets all five of the conditions described in OAC 340:40-7-12(6) and other children who do not meet these conditions, two separate cases must be established in order for the system to calculate the family share co‑payment correctly. The worker must document in FACS Case Notes why two case records must be established and why income is being considered or excluded in each case.

(f) Household composition is handled differently for other programs. See OAC 340:50-5-1 for food benefits, OAC 340:10-3-56 through 340:10-3-57 for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), and OAC 317:35-5 through 317:35-7 for medical assistance.

2. (a) When the parent is a minor parent, the minor parent's income must be considered in determining the family share co-payment. If the minor parent lives with his or her parent, neither the grandparent's income nor his or her need factor is considered for the grandchild.

(b) The adoptive parent's income is not considered until the adoption is final. When the adoption is final and the natural parent whose rights have been terminated and the adoptive parent live in the same household, consider only the income and need factor of the adoptive parent.

(1) Household income is not considered in determining the adoptive child's eligibility for subsidized child care when all five conditions described in OAC 340:40-7-12(6) are met.

(2) The worker must document in FACS Case Notes why the income is being excluded.

(3) When the household requests child care for a child who meets all five conditions described in OAC 340:40-7-12(6) and one who does not meet these conditions, the worker must set up separate cases.

(c) If the child's natural or adoptive parent is not in the home but the child continues to live with a stepparent, the stepparent's income is considered in determining the child's eligibility. This applies even if the stepparent is divorced from the child's natural or adoptive parent.

3. A court order must state that the caretaker is legally and financially responsible for the child before the caretaker's income is considered. If the child's own parent lives in the home with the child, count the own parent's income instead of the caretaker's income.

4. (a) A child's income must be considered unless specifically excluded in OAC 340:40-7-12.

(b) If child care is needed and one sibling is predetermined eligible for child care with a zero co-payment, two separate cases must be set up. This can happen when one child is disabled and receives Supplemental Security Income (SSI) or when there is a stepparent in the home and the client's child receives TANF but the stepparent's child does not.

(1) In the predetermined eligible case, the predetermined child is shown as added to "social services" in the "benefit" field F24 and "added to benefit section" in the "status" field F25.

(2) In the income eligible case, the income eligible child is shown as added to "social services" in the "benefit" field F24 and "added to benefit section" in the "status" field F25. All other household members' income is shown in the Income tab, including the SSI or TANF income, and these household members are added to "social services" in the "benefit" field F24 and "income/resources are considered in benefit computation – individual not included" in the "status" field F25. Only the child approved for subsidized child care benefits in the income eligible case is shown in the "number of children in child care" field E52 of the Child Care tab.

(c) When the household consists of the client's own child and another child such as a niece, nephew, or grandchild the adult is not legally and financially responsible for, the worker first determines which children require child care assistance.

(1) If child care is needed for both the client's child and any other child, the worker sets up two separate cases unless combining the households results in a lower family share co-payment. The client's income and his or her own child's income is considered in the case for the client's child. Only consider the income of any other child in the case set up for him or her.

(2) If child care is needed only for the client's own child, the worker counts the income of the parent and his or her own child. The worker does not count the income of the other child unless including that child in household size and his or her income reduces the family share co‑payment for the household.

(3) If child care is only needed for another child that the adult is not legally and financially responsible for, the worker only counts the income of that child and any siblings not requiring subsidized child care benefits. Household size includes these children only.

5. (a) If the natural or adoptive parent is living with a couple, the couple's income is not considered available to the child care household. If more than one non‑relative adult of the opposite sex is living in the home, all of their income is considered. The only exception to this is if the client lives in a shelter.

(b) Non-relative adults of the opposite sex do not have to meet a need factor. They are not required to be an alternative caregiver if they do not meet a need factor. See OAC 340:40-5-1(4) for information on who must be an alternative caregiver.

6. (a) All persons whose income is counted in determining the family share co‑payment are included to determine whether to use a family size of five members or less or for six or more members on OKDHS Appendix C-4, Child Care Eligibility/Rates Schedule.

(b) When a male and female live together and each have their own child living in the household who needs subsidized child care benefits, one case record is established for the household. If they are not married to each other, the worker uses the single parent need factor policy for each per OAC 340:40-7-7(b).

(c) Child support must be pursued on any child of a non-relative adult of the opposite sex living in the home in accordance with OAC 340:40-7-9(a).

7. (a) There is no set length of time established to determine if a household member's absence is temporary. The key is whether the rest of the household considers the absence to be temporary.

(b) If a parent is temporarily absent, child support forms are not completed. Instead, that parent must meet a need factor in accordance with OAC 340:40-7-7 and 340:40-7-8.

(c) If the household states a parent is not temporarily absent, child support is pursued from that parent in accordance with OAC 340:40-7-9.

(d) If a child is left with a caretaker due to the absence of a parent, the benefits remain on the parent's case as long as the caretaker provides a statement from the parent giving the caretaker authorized representative rights. [See OAC 340:40-3-1] If the caretaker cannot provide this statement, he or she needs to apply on his or her own case and child support forms must be completed.

8. When a parent is absent due to incarceration, the other parent or caretaker must provide verification of such incarceration. Verification may be obtained through the Department of Corrections or from the jail or prison where the parent is serving their sentence. If verification is not provided, the parent or caretaker must fill out child support paperwork on the absent parent. If the child is with a caretaker, see Instructions to Staff (ITS) #7.

9. When a parent is absent due to military service, use his or her total gross income, not just the dependent allowance, to calculate the family share co‑payment. This applies to single parents who give temporary custody of their child to a caretaker while they are away from home and to two‑parent households where only one of the parents is temporarily away from home.

10. When one or both parents are working or looking for work out-of-town, his and/or her income is considered in determining the household's eligibility. He or she must also meet a need factor described in OAC 340:40-7-7 in order for child care to be approved. If one parent or caretaker works part-time out‑of‑town and the other parent or caretaker works full-time, child care can only be approved on a part-time basis.

11.When a child goes to stay with someone other than a natural or adoptive parent for a vacation, household composition, income, and need is based on the usual home situation. The person the child is staying with must also meet the need factor for child care. When the child is staying with a non-custodial natural or adoptive parent, that parent must apply for subsidized child care benefits for that time frame based on his or her own household's eligibility.

12. When a child lives with one or both of his or her parents for part of the month and with a caretaker for the rest of the month, the child is considered temporarily absent from the parent while he or she lives with the caretaker. One case is established for the parent and the caretaker is shown as the authorized representative for the subsidized child care benefits on the parent's case. The worker may approve different child care plan hours for the time the child lives with the parent than when he or she lives with the caretaker if their work or school schedules are different.

13. When both parents qualify for subsidized child care benefits, establish two separate cases. Each parent must meet the need factor while that parent has physical custody of the child. The maximum amount of child care approved in both cases combined is never more than 31 days per month. Neither case qualifies for the weekly unit type. See OAC 340:40-7-7 and 340:40-7-8 for more information concerning the need factor for child care.

<< Back

Next >>