Disqualify families who have committed an Intentional Program Violation (IPV) or have been found to have wrongfully obtained child care assistance as established by any of the following:

· Court conviction.

· Signed Disqualification Consent Agreement (DCA) DHS-3429 (PDF).

· Pre-trial diversion.

· Administrative Disqualification Hearing (ADH) finding.

· Signed Waiver of an Administrative Disqualification Hearing (ADH) DHS-3131 (PDF).

· Court-ordered stay which carries with it any other probationary terms or conditions.

Do NOT disqualify a family from CCAP unless an IPV has been established through one of these methods.

Disqualify the entire family from receiving benefits for the following lengths of time when a member or members of a family receiving child care assistance is found to have committed an Intentional Program Violation or to have wrongfully obtained child care assistance:

· One year for the first offense

· Two years for the second offense

· Permanently for any subsequent violation.

Two-parent families and fraud determinations

If only one parent in a two-parent family is found to have committed an Intentional Program Violation (IPV), the entire family is disqualified from receiving child care assistance. However, only create a fraud window for the parent who committed the IPV.

Assign an overpayment to both parentally responsibility individuals (PRI) if:

· An overpayment resulted from the conduct that caused the disqualification

AND

· The Intentional Program Violation establishes that both the PRIs were considered part of the CCAP family when the overpayment occurred and both parties have responsibility to repay the overpayment.

Example

Family was receiving CCAP but never reported that dad was living in the home. Had the family reported dad in the home, they would have been ineligible for CCAP due to excess income. Mom signed an Administrative Disqualification Hearing (ADH) waiver, which disqualified the family from receiving CCAP for one year for the family’s first offense. Dad did not sign an ADH waiver, so a fraud window was created for mom only. An overpayment was assessed and assigned to both mom and dad for the time when the family was ineligible because dad was living in the home.

Dad later moves out of the home. Since dad did not sign an ADH waiver, he can submit a CCAP application for his own case and receive CCAP if he meets all other eligibility criteria. Dad remains responsible for the overpayment for the time period when he was part of the original CCAP family.

Notices and termination

Once an IPV or a finding that a family has wrongfully obtained child care assistance has been established, send the Notice of Program Disqualification DHS-3134 (PDF), and if the family’s case is open, send a 15-day notice to end assistance. The disqualification period must be immediately applied allowing for a 15-day notice. See Chapter 12 (Notices).

The disqualification is not appealable through an administrative hearing. The disqualification is appealable only through district or appellate court action. The disqualification remains in effect, without possibility of administrative stay, unless the findings are later reversed by a court of appropriate jurisdiction.

The effective date of the disqualification period is the later of:

· The effective date of the CCAP termination notice

OR

· The date of the determination. Examples include:

· Date of the signed Disqualification Consent Agreement

· Date of the signed Administrative Disqualification Hearing Waiver

· Date of the Administrative Disqualification Hearing decision or court decision.

When an IPV or a finding that a family has wrongfully obtained assistance is established against a family, the penalty period cannot be extended for other violations where fraud was not determined. Agencies may cite overpayments for prior time period(s), if additional violations exist.

Keep all records regarding the disqualification in the family’s case file. Include this information if transferring the file to another agency.

Legal authority

Minnesota Statutes 119B.011, subds. 2 & 13
Minnesota Statutes 119B.11, subd. 2a
Minnesota Statutes 256.98, subd. 8(b)
Minnesota Rules 3400.0183
Minnesota Rules 3400.0187, subp. 4