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Amendment to Cabarrus County Work First Block Grant Plan for FY2010 - FY2011 <br />The Cabarrus County Department of Social Services requests that the Cabarrus County Board of <br />County Commissioners approve the following amendment to the local Work First Plan: <br />IX. Exemption from the Work Requirement <br />The following exemptions from the work requirement will be in place: <br />• The parent of a newborn child, or a child less than 12 months old, will be exempted from <br />participation up to for one (1) year, but does not exceed the child's first birthday. If they <br />desire, they will be allowed to give up this exemption and participate, but will be able to <br />reclaim the exemption during this time if they choose to do so (not to exceed the 12 <br />month/1 year limit). A recipient has a total lifetime limit of 12 months in the exempted <br />status. <br />This amendment modifies the plan to change the exemption for a newborn or child less than 12 <br />months old, from 6 months to 12 months before participation is required. This change is being <br />sought for the following reasons: <br />With the high number of mandatory clients, the department is unable to properly prepare <br />parents with newborn children in the six month period, therefore hurting the participation <br />rate as these parents cannot function at full capacity when they enter the program. The <br />additional 6 months will allow the client to better prepare as they will not be required to <br />participate until the child is one year of age. <br />Due to increased demand and cuts in funding for child care program, a waiting list has <br />been started for child care services. The department does not have adequate funding in <br />many ways to serve all required Work First clients. This additional timeframe allows the <br />department to better stretch and manage the child care funds. <br />State policy allows for the exemption to be up to 12 months. <br />The department believes this change in local policy will allow us to more effectively serve all <br />Work First participants and allow us to better manage our child care funding. <br />Thank you for your consideration of this request. <br />Sincerely, <br />Ben Rose, MSW <br />Director <br />Attachment number 1 <br />F-4 Page 80 <br />