CalWORKs Overview
From CalWORKs | Welfare Resources
Introduction
CalWORKs stands for "California Work Opportunities and Responsibility to Kids," and is a time-limited state program that provides poor families (Note 1) with monthly checks to help pay for basic needs such as rent, food and clothing while the family seeks or prepares for unsubsidized employment. It replaces the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program, which was abolished effective January 1, 1998.
The principal features distinguishing CalWORKs from AFDC are:
- Time Limits: Most recipients may receive benefits for up to 60 months
- "Welfare to Work" Requirements: Most recipients will have to perform "work activities" to remain eligible for benefits
- Relaxed Eligibility for Unemployed Two Parent Families: Unlike in AFDC, these families are eligible even if they have no past work history
CalWORKs is funded by a federal "Temporary Assistance for Needy Families " (TANF) block grant. Since federal law provides very minimal guidelines that individual states must follow, each state not only has very different rules for eligibility, but also different benefit levels.
The Law Governing CalWORKs
The statutes guiding the CalWORKs program are found at Welfare and Institutions Code (WIC) § 11000 et seq., while that governing child care for CalWORKs recipients is found beginning at Education Code § 8208. CalWORKs regulations for California's program are codified in the State Department of Social Services Manual of Policies and Procedures (MPP), Divisions 40-45 and Divisions 80-82. The department's interpretation of these rules are found in All County Letters (ACL). Federal Law setting the conditions for receiving TANF funding is found at 42 U.S.C. § 601 et seq., and the implementing regulations at 45 C.F.R. § 270.
Note:
1. "Family" will often be used in this manual as shorthand for the CalWORKs "Assistance Unit" (AU). However, not all members of what is commonly considered a family are necessarily members of the AU. For example, non-parent adult caretaker relatives of a child do not to have to be in the AU since they are not legally responsible for the child. Even within a nuclear family, neither a parent or child receiving SSI, or an undocumented immigrant parent, is included in the AU. (See Who is Eligible for CalWORKs?)
