La. Admin. Code tit. 67 § III-5577

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 11, November 20, 2024

Section III-5577 - Pre- and Post-Release Family Strengthening Program

A. The department shall enter into a memorandum of understanding with the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections to collect information on rehabilitation expenditures for the purpose of claiming eligible expenditures that may count as maintenance of effort (MOE) effective Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) state plan FY 2015 for the TANF grant. The eligible rehabilitation expenditures that may be claimed as MOE are from the following programs.

1. Regional Reentry Program. This program provides the following services to incarcerated male inmates to assist them in becoming self-sustaining individuals upon release: life skills training; two forms of identification; discharge planning which includes residence, employment, and referral/connection to community resources; high school equivalency classes consisting of literacy, adult basic education, and pre-HiSET classes; and vocational training opportunities. The program attempts to alter the offenders negative attitudes and behavior through treatment and training, reconnect families separated by incarceration, and prepare the family to receive the offender upon release.

2. Day Reporting Program. This program offers the following services to released offenders with technical violations who face revocation and re-incarceration: non-medical substance abuse treatment, life skills, employment skills, job placement assistance, cognitive-behavioral interventions, and intensive case management. Additional services may also include adult basic education and HiSET preparation, parenting and family relations skills, anger management, pro-social family and community support, relapse prevention activities, and pro-social cognitive decision-making as needed. The program seeks to identify critical thinking and decision making errors that can be addressed, substance abuse and mental health needs, as well as assist with family dynamics to ensure the offender has the resources and tools necessary to remain in the community and avoid a return to prison.

3. Local Jail Transition Specialists. This program uses mobile transition specialists who provide the following services to incarcerated state offenders that are housed at local jails: parenting and anger management programming, behavior modification, and case management. The program seeks to reduce the offenders risk of recidivism, increase pro-social decision making, and ensure offenders are routed to the regional reentry programs and/or day reporting centers as appropriate.

B. These services meet TANF goal 2, to end dependence of needy parents on government benefits, by promoting job preparation, work, and marriage, and TANF goal 4, to encourage the formation and maintenance of two-parent families.

C. Eligibility for services attributable to TANF/MOE funds is limited to incarcerated and released male offenders who are fathers of minor children who are members of a needy family. A family meets financial eligibility if any member receives a Family Independence Temporary Assistance Program (FITAP) grant, Kinship Care Subsidy Program (KCSP) grant, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit, Title XIX (Medicaid) Medical Assistance Program benefit, Louisiana Childrens Health Insurance Program (LaCHIP) benefit, or supplemental security income (SSI) benefit.

D. Services are considered non-assistance by the department.

La. Admin. Code tit. 67, § III-5577

Promulgated by the Department of Children and Family Services, Economic Stability Section, LR 42864 (6/1/2016).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with 42 U.S.C. 601 et seq., P.L. 104-193, and R.S. 36:474.