Guardian Subsidy Payments
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This section includes information about guardian subsidy payments provided to children placed in the care of a legal permanent guardian (LPG).
Policy
The Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) Guardianship Subsidy Program provides a subsidy payment for children placed in the care of a Legal Permanent Guardian (LPG).
FAA considers subsidy payments the income of the child, and all of the following applies:
●For NA, all of the following applies to guardian subsidy payments:
The subsidy payment is countable income when the NA budgetary unit includes the child.
The subsidy payment does not count when the NA budgetary unit does not include the child.
FAA considers the child a boarder when not included in the budgetary unit. (See Determining Budgetary Units for more information about optional NA participation.)
●For CA, guardian subsidy payments do not count.
Countable income is used to determine an income budget. (See Income Budgeting to see how FAA determines the income budget.) FAA needs to know about income that is both countable and not countable to determine whether a budgetary unit’s income is exceeding their expenses. (See Income Eligibility for more information about how FAA uses countable and not countable income.)
Verification
The participant has the primary responsibility for providing verification. (See Participant Responsibilities – Providing Verification for additional policy.)
For NA, all of the following income is required to be verified before eligibility is determined:
●Reported on a new application, during the interview of a new application, or changes reported before the eligibility determination of a new application.
●Changes after an eligibility determination of a new application (e.g., a renewal application, mid approval contact, etc.) and any of the following apply:
The source of the income has changed.
The income is questionable(g) or unclear(g).
The reported income amount has changed by $51 or more.
The previous verification in the case file is more than 59 calendar days old.
For CA, all income is required to be verified before determining eligibility.
Examples of verification that can be used for unearned income include, and are not limited to, any of the following:
●Assistance payments records
●Absent Parent
●AZTECS INTERFACE INQUIRY MENU (ININ) for verification of SSA or SSI income
●Benefit award letters from SSA, Statement of Earnings VA, and other agencies
●Bank records
●Court records or court orders
●DCSS documents or print outs
●Divorce or separation papers or contact with the Clerk of the Court
●Current check reflecting gross income (Do not copy federal government checks)
●Federal or state tax forms
●Household System Check (HOSC) information
●Insurance policies
●Mortgages and Sales Contracts
●Statement from the agency or payer providing the income
●State Data Exchange (SDX) microfiche
●Unemployment Insurance records
●Participant statement verification when one of the following occur:
Obtaining documented or collateral contact verification may cause harm or undue hardship(g) for the participant.
When all of the following occur:
●Other attempts to obtain the verification have failed. This includes documented and collateral contact verification.
●The participant has requested assistance from FAA.
●The worker has evaluated the request for assistance and cannot obtain the verification from another acceptable source.
●The participant statement is not questionable(g).
Legal Authorities
AAC R6-12-503
7 CFR 273.9(b)(2)(ii)
last revised 10/02/2023