Income

General

In general, the definitions and the treatment of some of the types of “exempt”, “unearned”, and “earned” income are the same for the CalWORKs and Foster Care programs. However, there are several differences as well. When looking for income in the CalWORKs case to determine if there is federal eligibility, consider the following CalWORKs rules:

Quarterly Reporting

[Refer CalWORKs Handbook, Chapter 9 and Chapter 33]

The 1st month is the payment month;
The second month is the Data Report month which is when the QR 7 is sent to the client; and,
The 3rd month is when the client sends back the QR 7 with information about income in the Data Month, which will determine the payment for the future month.

Earned Income: Receives a $225 and 50% disregard from gross earnings.

Disability Based income receives a $225 disregard only.

Unearned Income: No disregard; dollar for dollar is subtracted from MAP.

Instructions for treatment of income the Foster Care child and/or for the federal eligibility determination are provided in each section below.

Student Exemption

All earned income of a Foster Care child under age 19 is exempt if the child:

Is a full time student, or
Has a school schedule that is equal to at least one half of a full time curriculum and is not employed full time.

School attendance is defined as school, college, university or other course of vocational or technical training designed to fit the child for gainful employment.

Part time employment is less than 173 hours per month.
Part time student is a student who is attending less than a full time course as defined by the school.

The student exemption applies to full or part time earnings between school terms or during vacation periods, if the child plans to continue to be a student next term or when vacation period ends.

Independent Living Program (ILP)

Income and incentive payments earned by a child 16 years of age or older, who is participating in the ILP are exempt as income and must not be used to determine federal eligibility or the Foster Care payment. There is no limit to the amount of income the child may earn in the ILP.

Incentive Payments

Incentive payments are exempt income for the Foster Care child, and not to exceed $600 annually. Examples of incentive payments are cash, and/or household items, such as, pots and pans, linens, kitchen utensils, or other items to help the foster care child in later establishing a household.

Non-Recurring Gifts

When determining eligibility for Foster Care, EWs must follow the AFDC rules which were in effect on 7/16/96:

The first $30 of small, nonrecurring gifts received by a Foster Care child during any calendar quarter is exempt.
When determining federal eligibility, the first $30 of nonrecurring gifts received by each member of the AU during a calendar quarter is exempt.