Both employment counselors and eligibility workers must act if a participant requests a family violence waiver.

When participants share that they are experiencing family violence:

· Let them know about the family violence waiver.

If they choose to pursue the family violence waiver:

· Ensure a family violence specialist is involved by doing 1 of the following:

· Refer or arrange a meeting for the participant with a person trained as a family violence specialist, see 8.21 (Family Violence Specialists).

· Refer to the agency family violence specialist.

· Engage the family violence specialist the participant is already working with.

· Get verification of the family violence, see 8.15 (Verifying Family Violence).

· Work with the family violence specialist and participant to develop an employment plan with safety activities. See 8.24 (Employment Plans & Family Violence Waiver).

· Send a status update to the eligibility worker to approve the Family Violence Waiver once the employment plan has been signed.

· Consult with the participant to determine where mail should be sent and phone calls should be made.

When an eligibility worker communicates that a participant has shared that they are experiencing family violence:

· Expect that the eligibility worker may already have connected the participant to a family violence specialist.

· Work with the family violence specialist and the participant to develop an employment plan.

· Offer the participant the option to attend a group employment services overview or to do a private overview as part of developing the employment plan or as a separate event, whatever best meets the participant’s needs.

· If the participant fails to attend the overview, reach out to the participant.

· If that fails, follow the FSS checklist before imposing a sanction. See 17.61 (Sanctions).

NOTE: Participants can still be eligible for a Family Violence Waiver even when they reside with or are still in a relationship/interacting with the abuser.