New Mexico Administrative Code
Title 8 - SOCIAL SERVICES
Chapter 106 - STATE FUNDED ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS
Part 400 - RECIPIENT POLICIES - DEFINING THE BENEFIT GROUP
Section 8.106.400.11 - LIVING ARRANGEMENT
Universal Citation: 8 NM Admin Code 8.106.400.11
Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 18, September 24, 2024
A. Disability:
(1) An individual
shall not be eligible for inclusion in the benefit group if the individual is
institutionalized for any reason such as:
(a)
medical or mental health treatment;
(b) an inmate in a public non-medical
institution, including facilities in the state prison system, jails and
detention centers, as well as juvenile correction facilities;
(c) a person shall be considered an inmate if
residing in a public facility at the order or discretion of a court, such as a
person sentenced to a prison or committed under court order.
(2) An individual shall be
eligible for inclusion in the benefit group if the individual is:
(a) attending a public educational or
vocational training institution, who lives in housing provided by the
institution; or
(b) residing in a
homeless shelter or other supportive living program administered by a homeless
services provider.
(3)
To be eligible for inclusion the essential person, spouse or father of the
unborn child, must be considered to be living with the disabled
recipient.
B. State supplement for adult residential care: To be eligible for the ARSCH supplemental payment program, an individual must be living in a facility licensed as an adult residential shelter care facility by the New Mexico department of health.
C. Dependent child: The determination whether the dependent child meets the living arrangement is discussed with the caretaker and carefully documented in the case record.
(1) The dependent child must
be living or considered to be living, in the home with an unrelated caretaker.
A dependent child is considered to be living with a caretaker if:
(a) the caretaker has assumed responsibility
for care, support and supervision of an unrelated child and for meeting the
child's physical and emotional needs;
(b) the caretaker has demonstrated an intent
to maintain the caretaker-child relationship and to provide a home for the
child;
(c) the caretaker is not the
legal guardian of the dependent child;
(d) the dependent child is not physically
absent from the home and is not under the care, control or supervision of
himself, a relative or another adult, a social services or correctional agency,
or other agency of state, local or tribal government; and
(e) the dependent child actually spends the
majority of time with one caretaker.
(2)
Absence from the home: The
caretaker of a dependent child included in the benefit group must report when a
dependent child leaves the home of the caretaker. The dependent child's needs
shall be removed from the cash assistance payment if the benefit group includes
only one dependent child, eligibility shall be terminated for the benefit
group. A child may be physically absent from the home, for a period of time and
may remain a member of the benefit group if:
(a) the absence is related to the well being
of the child;
(b) the caretaker
continues to exercise care, financial support, maintains living quarters, makes
decisions on the behalf of the child and remains in contact with the child in
order to provide supervision of the child; and
(c) the length of the absence is less than 45
days, provided that the child is not simultaneously participating in another
cash assistance program.
(3)
Absences related to the well being
of a child: A child shall retain living-in-the-home status while
receiving any of the services described below.
(a)
Rehabilitation services, including
psychosocial treatment services:
(i)
the program must be family-based with one objective being the strengthening of
family ties;
(ii) treatment plans
must provide for a significant level of continuing authority, responsibility,
and participation by the caretaker; and
(iii) the caretaker must retain the authority
to decide when the child should leave the facility, must approve necessary
treatment, and must retain responsibility for provision of pocket
money.
(b)
Boarding school: A child who is attending school away from home
regardless of the length of the absence, when the caretaker retains
responsibility for care, support and supervision of the child. The child must
have been living in the home before attending boarding school.
(c)
Residence in a medicaid
facility: A child hospitalized for care or treatment in a title facility
may retain living-in-the-home status, without regard to the length of
hospitalization, provided that:
(i) the child
must have been living in the home before hospitalization;
(ii) the caretaker continues to be the person
with primary responsibility for care, support and supervision of the child and
for meeting the child's physical and emotional needs.
(d) Treatment centers may include acute care
hospitals, freestanding psychiatric hospitals and rehabilitation hospitals as
well as residential treatment centers and group homes reimbursed by medicaid
for psychosocial rehabilitation services. The status of a residential treatment
center or group home as a medicaid provider may be made by contacting the
medical assistance division of the human services department.
(e) A child receiving treatment in a title
XIX facility, or placed in other substitute care living arrangements by
juvenile authorities as the result of a sentence or commitment by a judicial
authority does not meet the definition of living in the home, as the caretaker
no longer has significant responsibility of the care, support and supervision
of the child.
(f) A child retains
living-in-the-home status as long as the caretaker has the authority to control
the child's treatment and duration of stay. Should a court order be issued
placing the child in a psychiatric facility, a caretaker may be prevented from
removing the child from the facility. In such a circumstance, the child cannot
retain living-in-the-home status.
(4)
Caretaker's absence from the
home: The caretaker may be physically absent from the home and still
retain status as the primary caretaker for purposes of eligibility, provided
the caretaker is absent from the home due to illness or hospitalization for 30
days or less.
(a)
Primary
responsibility: In order for the caretaker to retain living-in-the-home
status, he or she must retain primary responsibilities for providing care,
support and supervision for the child.
(b)
Residence in a medicaid
facility: A caretaker receiving treatment in a Title XIX facility
remains a member of the benefit group of which the caretaker was a member at
the time of hospitalization until the caretaker leaves the facility and returns
to the home. If the caretaker does not return to the home following
hospitalization, the living-in-the-home determination shall be
terminated.
Disclaimer: These regulations may not be the most recent version. New Mexico may have more current or accurate information. We make no warranties or guarantees about the accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the information contained on this site or the information linked to on the state site. Please check official sources.
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google
Privacy Policy and
Terms of Service apply.
