2023 New York Laws › SOS - Social Services › Article 5 - Assistance and Care › Title 1 - General Provisions › 132 - Investigation of Applications.

§  132.  Investigation  of  applications.  1.  When an application for
assistance or care  is  received,  or  a  social  services  official  is
informed  that  a  person  is  in need of public assistance and care, an
investigation and record shall be made  of  the  circumstances  of  such
person.  The  object of such investigations shall be to secure the facts
necessary to  determine  whether  such  person  is  in  need  of  public
assistance  or  care  and what form thereof and service he or she should
receive. Information shall be sought as to the residence of such person,
the name, age, religious faith, physical condition,  earnings  or  other
income,  and  ability to work of all members of the family, the cause of
the person's condition, the  ability  and  willingness  of  the  family,
relatives,  friends and church to assist, and such other facts as may be
useful in determining the  treatment  which  will  be  helpful  to  such
person.  However,  nothing  in  this  subdivision  or  elsewhere in this
chapter contained shall  be  construed  to  require  a  social  services
official  to  communicate  with or require assistance from any person or
persons liable by law to contribute to the support of a  woman  pregnant
with,  or  the  mother of, an out of wedlock child, in need of care away
from home during pregnancy and during and after delivery,  in  the  case
where  the  surrender  of  the  child to the social services official is
under consideration, for such period as may be necessary for such mother
and official to  decide  whether  the  child  will  be  surrendered  for
adoption  to  such official, which period shall not extend beyond ninety
days after birth of the child. Except where the welfare official  is  in
possession  of  positive  proof  that  the  applicant is receiving or is
eligible to receive  unemployment  insurance  benefits  and  the  amount
thereof  such  investigations  shall  include  written  request  to  the
commissioner of labor or his or her duly authorized officer charged with
administration of the unemployment insurance law for information  as  to
the status of such person in respect to unemployment insurance benefits.
2.  (a)  All  applications  received by a town social services officer
shall be forwarded to the county commissioner immediately and  all  such
applications   shall   be  investigated  by  the  staff  of  the  county
commissioner. After investigation the county commissioner  shall  return
to  the  town  social  services officer every application for safety net
assistance made by a person residing or found  in  such  town,  together
with  his  or  her recommendation as to the eligibility of the applicant
and the amount of assistance to be granted, if any. In addition thereto,
the county commissioner shall keep  the  town  social  services  officer
currently  informed  of  persons  residing  in  his  or her town who are
receiving any form of public assistance and care other than  safety  net
assistance.
(b)  In a city social services district, investigation of applications
shall be made by the city commissioner of social services and his staff.
(c) In a city which is functioning  under  section  seventy-four-a  of
this  chapter, investigation shall be made by the county commissioner of
social services and his staff.
3. The commissioner of  the  department  of  family  assistance  shall
provide  by regulation for methods of determining eligibility for public
assistance and care, other than medical assistance, to  be  utilized  by
all  social  services  officials.  Such  regulations  shall  provide for
methods of verifying information supplied by or  about  recipients  with
information  contained in the wage reporting system established pursuant
to section one hundred seventy-one-a of the tax law and similar  systems
in  other  geographically contiguous states, and, to the degree mandated
by federal law with the non-wage income file maintained  by  the  United
States  internal  revenue  service,  with the benefits and earnings data

exchange maintained by the United States department of health and  human
services, and with the unemployment insurance benefit file.
4.  (a)  Investigation  into  the  cause of the condition of a head of
household or of any adult applicant or recipient and the treatment which
will be helpful to such person shall include  a  screening  for  alcohol
and/or  substance  abuse using a standardized screening instrument to be
developed  by  the  office  of  addiction  services  and   supports   in
consultation with the department. Such screening shall be performed by a
social  services  district  at  the time of application and periodically
thereafter but not more frequently than every  six  months,  unless  the
district has reason to believe that an applicant or recipient is abusing
or  dependent  on  alcohol  or  drugs,  in  accordance  with regulations
promulgated by the  department.  Such  screening  may  be  conducted  by
telephone  or  other  digital  means  at the request of the applicant or
recipient.
(b) When the screening process  indicates  that  there  is  reason  to
believe  that  an  applicant  or  recipient  is  abusing or dependent on
alcohol or drugs, the social services district shall  require  a  formal
alcohol  or  substance abuse assessment, which may include drug testing,
to be performed  by  an  alcohol  and/or  substance  abuse  professional
credentialed  by the office of addiction services and supports. Provided
however, if the applicant or recipient tests positive for  the  presence
of  cannabis,  the  positive  result  alone  shall  not be sufficient to
establish a dependence  for  purposes  of  requiring  an  individual  to
participate  in  a  treatment  program pursuant to paragraph (c) of this
subdivision. The assessment may be performed directly by the district or
pursuant to contract with the district. Such assessment may be conducted
by telephone or other digital means at the request of the  applicant  or
recipient.
(c) The social services official shall refer applicants and recipients
whom  it determines are presently unable to work by reason of their need
for treatment for  alcohol  or  substance  abuse  based  on  the  formal
assessment to a treatment program licensed or certified by the office of
alcoholism and substance abuse services or operated by the United States
office  of  veterans  affairs  and  determined  by  the  social services
official to meet  the  rehabilitation  needs  of  the  individual.  When
residential  treatment is appropriate for a single custodial parent, the
social services official shall make diligent efforts to refer the parent
to a program that would allow  the  family  to  remain  intact  for  the
duration of the treatment.
(d)  A  person  who  fails  to  participate in the screening or in the
assessment shall be ineligible for public assistance. Other members of a
household which includes a person who has failed to participate  in  the
screening  or  assessment  shall,  if otherwise eligible, receive public
assistance only through safety net  assistance  if  they  are  otherwise
eligible for public assistance.
(e) A person referred to a treatment program pursuant to paragraph (c)
of  this  subdivision,  and  the  household with which he or she resides
shall receive safety net assistance while the person is participating in
such treatment, if  the  household  is  otherwise  eligible  for  public
assistance. If a person referred to treatment cannot participate in that
treatment  because treatment is not presently available, that person and
the household with which he or she  resides  shall  receive  safety  net
assistance if the household is otherwise eligible for public assistance.
(f)  If  an  applicant or recipient is required, pursuant to paragraph
(c) of this subdivision, to participate in an appropriate rehabilitation
program and refuses to participate in such program without good cause or
leaves such program prior to completion  of  the  program  without  good

cause,  provided  that  program completion shall be solely determined by
the guidelines and rules  of  such  rehabilitation  program,  or  if  an
applicant  or  recipient  has  been suspended from the receipt of social
security disability benefits or supplemental security income benefits by
reason of noncompliance with requirements of the federal social security
administration  for  treatment for substance abuse or alcohol abuse, the
person will be disqualified from receiving public assistance as follows:
(i) for the first failure to participate in or complete  the  program,
until  the  failure  ceases  or for forty-five days, whichever period of
time is longer;
(ii) for the second such failure, until the failure ceases or for  one
hundred twenty days, whichever period of time is longer; and
(iii)  for the third and subsequent failures, until the failure ceases
or for one hundred eighty days, whichever period is longer.
Good cause shall be defined in regulations by the commissioner.
The household with which the person resides shall continue to  receive
safety net assistance if otherwise eligible.
(g)  Persons disqualified from receiving public assistance pursuant to
paragraph (f) of this subdivision who would otherwise  be  eligible  for
public  assistance and who return to required treatment prior to the end
of the disqualification period and are  receiving  residential  care  as
defined  in  paragraph  (d)  of subdivision three of section two hundred
nine of this chapter shall be eligible for safety net assistance.
(h) Notwithstanding any inconsistent provision of section one  hundred
thirty-one-o  of this article, if a recipient required to participate in
an appropriate treatment program  pursuant  to  paragraph  (c)  of  this
subdivision receives a personal needs allowance, such allowance shall be
made  as  a  restricted  payment to the treatment program and shall be a
conditional payment. If such  recipient  leaves  the  treatment  program
prior  to the completion of such program, any accumulated personal needs
allowance will be considered an overpayment and returned to  the  social
services district which provided the personal needs allowance.
(i)  Compliance  with  the provisions of this subdivision shall not be
required as a condition of applying for or receiving medical assistance.