Current through Register Vol. 56, No. 18, September 16, 2024
(a) Based on
P.L. 1997, c.
13, c.14, c.37, and c.38 (Work First New Jersey Act), approved January 29, 1997;
the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA) of 1996; and the final Federal Temporary
Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) regulations, issued on April 12, 1999, the WFNJ Family Violence Option
(FVO) Initiative is established to help promote the goals of the WFNJ program. The objective of the WFNJ FVO
Initiative is to safely move WFNJ TANF/GA applicants/recipients, who may be past or present victims of family
violence or are at risk of family violence, from dependency on WFNJ TANF/GA cash assistance benefits to
employment and self-sufficiency, to the extent possible.
1. Past or present
situations involving family violence or any situation that places the WFNJ individual and/or family member(s)
at risk of family violence may affect the individual's current ability to cooperate with the WFNJ TANF/GA
program requirements because the individual has or fears emotional or physical harm. Family violence means
situations involving domestic violence and/or sexual assault in accordance with the definition at N.J.A.C.
10:90-15.
2. Family violence circumstances may affect a WFNJ
TANF/GA individual's and/or his or her family member's safety, may limit the person's ability to move beyond
the violence or trauma of the violence and, as such, may affect the individual's current ability to comply
with WFNJ TANF/GA program requirements such as, but not limited to:
i.
Cooperating in establishing paternity or in establishing and enforcing orders of support on a non-custodial
or alleged non-custodial parent;
ii. His or her ability to work
or participate in a work activity;
iii. The length of time of
receipt of public assistance; and
iv. His or her ability to
maintain housing and/or comply with EA requirements.
(b) The New Jersey Department of Human Services' (DHS) Division of Family
Development (DFD) in collaboration with the New Jersey Coalition for Battered Women (NJCBW) established the
WFNJ FVO Initiative. The WFNJ FVO Initiative provides WFNJ TANF/GA applicants/recipients with notification of
the WFNJ FVO process; screenings which may identify individuals with a past or present history of family
violence or who may be at risk of family violence; provides for the safety provision that allows one or more
of the WFNJ TANF/GA program requirements to be considered for a WFNJ FVO Waiver, including a good cause
exception from the WFNJ/TANF child support requirements and requests for EA for reason of family violence, if
and when a waiver is necessary, and for as long as the waiver may be needed.
1. All requests for a WFNJ FVO Waiver of any WFNJ TANF/GA program
requirement(s) are coupled with the requirement for participation in the standardized WFNJ FVO Risk
Assessment process. This involves the formal referral of WFNJ TANF/GA individuals applying for or in receipt
of WFNJ TANF/GA cash assistance benefits to the designated victim service provider agency for completion of
the Federally required WFNJ FVO Risk Assessment and for possible referral to intervention services.
i. The WFNJ FVO Risk Assessment includes a safety and service plan strategy
consistent with the identified needs and safety concerns of the individual, as determined by the WFNJ TANF/GA
individual and the victim service provider agency's risk assessor.
ii. The EA service plan completed at the CWA/MWA for WFNJ TANF/GA
individuals requesting EA for reason of family violence or the risk of family violence must be coordinated
with any services offered through the designated victim service provider agency and included in the family
violence safety and service plan.
2. The CWA/MWA
notifies, screens for, and processes any WFNJ FVO Waiver requests made by WFNJ TANF/GA/EA individuals for
reason of family violence.
3. Designated WFNJ CWA/MWA staff shall
refer any individual who requests help in accessing victim services, in their community, to the designated
victim service provider agency of that county.
i. The WFNJ FVO Initiative
provides for the informal referral of WFNJ TANF/GA individuals, who are victims/survivors and do not request
a WFNJ FVO Waiver, to the designated victim service provider agency for information and/or services. Such
informal referrals are also available, upon request, to anyone from the public at large having contact with
the WFNJ CWAs/MWAs and for CWA/MWA employees.
(c) All WFNJ CWAs/MWAs shall make referrals to the designated victim
service provider agency.
1. The MWA shall make a referral for the WFNJ FVO
Risk Assessment when the WFNJ/GA individual requests a WFNJ FVO Waiver of one or more WFNJ/GA program
requirements, unless the individual is making application for or participating in the WFNJ/GA program in an
area of the Statewide program where the WFNJ FVO Initiative process has not yet administratively been
implemented or made operational. In these excepted case situations, the WFNJ/GA process for waivers shall
follow that operational process that preceded the WFNJ FVO Initiative, until such time as that process
becomes effective for that MWA.
(d) The purposes of
the WFNJ FVO Initiative are as follows:
1. To provide all WFNJ TANF/GA
applicants/recipients with the following:
i. Safety and flexibility in
meeting the WFNJ TANF/GA work requirements and WFNJ/TANF child support requirements;
ii. Notification of the right to request a WFNJ FVO Waiver of one or more
WFNJ TANF/GA program requirements, including a good cause exceptions from the WFNJ/TANF child support
requirements, and requests for EA for reason of family violence;
iii. Identification of the specific WFNJ TANF/GA program requirements that
may be waived;
iv. An explanation of the WFNJ FVO Waiver process
and the WFNJ FVO Risk Assessment requirements;
v. Advice that any
individual, who wants information about or who is in need of victim services, of his or her right to request
a referral to the designated victim service provider agency, where certified professionals trained in the
area of domestic violence or sexual assault may assist the person with specialized services, including
completion of the WFNJ FVO Risk Assessment, when a WFNJ FVO Waiver has been requested; and
vi. Basic written and oral information about the New Jersey Address
Confidentiality Program (NJACP);
(1) Applications for the NJACP shall be
made through the designated victim service provider agency in accordance with State law at
47:4-1 et seq.;
(A) If the
applicant/recipient does not meet the criteria for the NJACP, or is in the process of applying for the NJACP,
then the CWA address may be used for the individual on appropriate agency documents to protect the
individual's location due to safety concerns;
(B) If a WFNJ
TANF/GA applicant/recipient is placed in a domestic violence shelter (DV) or is currently residing in a DV
shelter, the WFNJ agency shall not use the DV shelter address for the individual in order to ensure the
safety of the WFNJ applicant/recipient and other families placed in the shelter; and
2. To educate WFNJ TANF/GA applicants/recipients, the
public at large having contact with the CWAs/MWAs, including Medicaid and NJ SNAP applicants/recipients, and
CWA/MWA employees about access to and availability of family violence services in the community.
