239B.8 - FAMILY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS.
239B.8 FAMILY INVESTMENT AGREEMENTS.
The department shall establish a policy regarding the
implementation of family investment agreements which limits the
period of eligibility for the family investment program based upon
the requirements of a family's plan for self-sufficiency. The policy
shall require a family's plan to be specified in a family investment
agreement between the family and the department. The department
shall adopt rules to administer the policy. The components of the
policy shall include but are not limited to all of the following:
1. Participation -- exemptions. A parent living in a home
with a child for whom an application for family investment program
assistance has been made or for whom the assistance is provided, and
all other individual members of the family whose needs are included
in the assistance shall be subject to a family investment agreement
unless exempt under rules adopted by the department or unless any of
the following conditions exists:
a. The individual is less than sixteen years of age and is
not a parent.
b. The individual is sixteen through eighteen years of age,
is not a parent, and is attending elementary or secondary school, or
the equivalent level of vocational or technical school, on a
full-time basis. If an individual loses exempt status under this
paragraph and the individual has signed a family investment
agreement, the individual shall remain subject to the terms of the
agreement until the terms are completed.
c. The individual is not a United States citizen and is not a
qualified alien as defined in 8 U.S.C. § 1641.
2. Agreement options. A family investment agreement shall
require an individual who is subject to the agreement to engage in
one or more work or training options. An individual's level of
engagement in one or more of the work or training options shall be
equivalent to the level of commitment required for full-time
employment or shall be significant so as to move the individual's
level of engagement toward that level. The department shall adopt
rules defining option requirements and establishing assistance
provisions for child care, transportation, and other support
services. A leave from engagement in work or training options shall
be offered to a participant parent to address the birth of a child or
the placement of a child with the participant parent for adoption or
foster care. If such a leave is requested by the parent the combined
duration of the leave shall not exceed the minimum leave duration, as
outlined in the federal Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993, §
102(a) and (b)(1), as codified in 29 U.S.C. § 2612(a) and (b)(1).
The terms of the leave shall be incorporated into the family
investment agreement. The work or training options shall include but
are not limited to all of the following:
a. Employment. Full-time or part-time employment.
b. Employment search. Active job search.
c. JOBS. Participation in the JOBS program.
d. Education. Participation in other education or training
programming.
e. Family development. Participation in a family development
and self-sufficiency grant program under section 216A.107 or other
family development program.
f. Work experience. Work experience placement.
g. Community service. Unpaid community service.
h. Parenting skills. Participation in an arrangement which
would strengthen the individual's ability to be a better parent,
including but not limited to participation in a parenting education
program.
i. Family or domestic violence. Participation in a safety
plan to address or prevent family or domestic violence. The safety
plan may include a temporary waiver period from required
participation in the JOBS program or other employment-related
activities, as appropriate for the situation of the applicant or
participant. All applicants and participants shall be informed
regarding the existence of this option. Participation in this option
shall be subject to review in accordance with administrative rule.
j. Incremental family investment agreements. If an
individual participant or the entire family has an acknowledged
barrier, the plan for self-sufficiency may be specified in one or
more incremental family investment agreements.
3. Limited benefit plan. If a participant fails to comply
with the provisions of the participant's family investment agreement
during the period of the agreement, the limited benefit plan
provisions of section 239B.9 shall apply.
4. Completion of agreement.
a. Upon the completion of the terms of the agreement, family
investment program assistance to a participant family covered by the
agreement shall cease or be reduced in accordance with rules.
b. However, if the period in which a participant family is
without cash assistance is one month or less and the participant
family has not become exempt from JOBS program participation at the
time the participant family reapplies for cash assistance, the
participant family's family investment agreement shall be reinstated
at the time the participant family reapplies. The reinstated
agreement may be revised to accommodate changed circumstances present
at the time of reapplication.
c. The department shall adopt rules to administer this
subsection and to determine when a family is eligible to reenter the
family investment program.
5. Contracts. The department may contract with the
department of workforce development, department of economic
development, or any other entity to provide services relating to a
family investment agreement.
6. Confidential information disclosure. If approved by the
director of human services or the director's designee pursuant to a
written request, the department shall disclose confidential
information described in section 217.30, subsection 1, to other state
agencies or to any other entity which is not subject to the
provisions of chapter 17A and is providing services to a participant
family who is subject to a family investment agreement, if necessary
in order for the participant family to receive the services. The
department shall adopt rules establishing standards for disclosure of
confidential information if disclosure is necessary in order for a
participant to receive services. Section History: Recent Form
97 Acts, ch 41, §9, 34; 98 Acts, ch 1218, §52; 99 Acts, ch 192,
§33; 2000 Acts, ch 1088, §3; 2001 Acts, ch 128, §1; 2001 Acts, ch
191, §41; 2004 Acts, ch 1043, §2, 3; 2005 Acts, ch 121, §10; 2007
Acts, ch 124, §5; 2008 Acts, ch 1072, §4, 5
Referred to in § 239B.1, 239B.2, 239B.9, 239B.18