TANF and the Five Year Time Limit

What's the real story in Maine?

While Maine law allows families to continue to receive assistance after 5 years, it does impose a penalty if:

1. The family includes an adult who has received assistance for 5 years or more; AND 

2. A family member has violated program rules 3 or more times since November 1996.

If a family has been receiving TANF for 5 years or more and someone in the family has been sanctioned 3 or more times, here is how the penalty will work:

• The children in the family will continue to receive benefits, but the family's grant will be less because the sanctioned family member will not get benefits for herself for a period of time. This penalty period is equal to the amount of time of her last sanction;
  

• The sanctioned family member must still follow ASPIRE/TANF program rules even during the penalty period;
  

• If the sanctioned family member does not follow program rules during the penalty period, then the whole family (including the children) can lose its TANF benefits. The rest of the family can get its benefits back once the person who has been sanctioned begins to comply with program rules.

What about Medicaid?

This penalty does not affect the family's Medicaid.

What about food stamps?

The whole family should also continue to get Food Stamps as long as the sanctioned person is complying with the rules. In cases where the sanctioned family member does not follow program rules during the penalty period, the children should continue to get Food Stamps while the sanctioned family member may lose food stamps for one month.

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Important!

This penalty does not apply to any family:

• Who has experienced domestic violence; 
  

• Who has a family member with an illness or disability; OR
  

• Who has other "good cause". 

Other "Good cause" includes:

1. Advanced age.

2. Sexual harassment that occurs while you are participating in required ASPIRE activities.

3. Required appearance in court, or incarceration.

4. You don't have the child care, transportation or other services that would allow you to work with ASPIRE.

5. Bad weather which keeps you and other people who work with ASPIRE from attending required activities.

6. You were asked to do something that is not part of your Family Contract.

7. The activity requires you to travel more than 2 hours round trip, or to relocate more than two hours round trip from where you live now (unless you want to do so).

8. Any crisis or special circumstance that keeps you from participating in ASPIRE.

9. Any other reason beyond your control, or that a reasonable person would think is good cause.

Another Important note:

Do not count any months toward the 5-year (60 month) period that the family:

• Was in the Parents as Scholars Program; or
  

• Worked for pay and received TANF while living in one of the following counties between January 1998 and June 1999: Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc, Waldo and York; or
  

• Was receiving TANF because a second parent in the household was receiving SSI (Social Security). 

For example, the Smith family received TANF in every month between November 1996 and November 2001. In 1998 they lived in Penobscot County where Ms. Smith worked for pay for 12 months. In counting the length of time this family has been on TANF, the Department should ignore the 12 months in 1998 that she was working in Penobscot County. Instead of 5 years, they should consider that this family has been on TANF for 4 years.

If you get a notice at some point in the future saying that you will have to serve a penalty, you should call your case manager right away if you think you had good cause for any of your sanctions. You should also check to be sure that all of the months that you received TANF should really be counted as discussed above.

Since sanctions for failing to follow program rules are what trigger this penalty, it is important to pay very careful attention to any sanction that the Department proposes to give you.

• If you are told that you have violated an ASPIRE/TANF rule, carefully look at the list of good cause reasons above.
  

• If you had good cause for not following a rule, (for example, you missed a meeting because you were sick or had to take your child to the doctor) be sure to tell your case manager. In many cases you can avoid a sanction just by explaining why you were unable to follow a rule.
  

• If your case manager doesn't accept your good cause explanation, you can ask for a fair hearing.

Sanctions might matter down the road, so it is best to deal with them when they are first proposed. Call your local office of Pine Tree Legal Assistance if you want help with a fair hearing.

Disclaimer Maine Equal Justice Partners July 2007 We are providing this information as a public service. We try to make it accurate as of the date indicated for each client education page. Sometimes the law changes. We cannot guarantee or promise that this information is always up-to-date and correct. Feel free to contact us to find out if there have been any changes since the date of the information provided. We do not intend this information to be legal advice. We do not intend it as advertising or solicitation. By providing this information, we are not acting as your lawyer. It is best to consult a competent lawyer before taking legal action. Because it is important that information be shared, we encourage reproduction and distribution of our work so long as appropriate acknowledgement is made. Please check with us for updates on information before distributing any dated material.