Apply For Florida TANF
This page provides the Florida TANF eligibility requirements. Applicants must meet both state and federal guidelines for the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families program. Individuals who apply for TANF must meet the monetary and non-monetary state guidelines, complete work-related activities, provide paternity information about the children in the household and report as required by the state.
Florida residents who qualify for welfare are required to furnish information such as citizenship, income, resources, and age. Only household members who are eligible can receive Florida welfare benefits. Read on for more information about applying for TANF. If you have additional questions or issues about this program, then contact TANF Florida.
Florida TANF Eligibility
For temporary cash assistance, states have broad flexibility in establishing eligibility requirements. Families that include an adult must meet work participation requirements and are subject to time limits on the cumulative number of months of assistance. Families must cooperate with child support enforcement requirements and non-citizens, with certain exceptions such as refugees and political asylees, are ineligible for TANF.
To be eligible, families must meet both financial and non-financial requirements established in state law. In general, families must include a child (or a pregnant woman) and be residents of Florida. Children under age 5 must be current with childhood immunizations and children age 6 to 18 must attend school and parents or caretakers must participate in school conferences. Countable assets must be $2,000 or less and licensed vehicles needed for individuals subject to the work requirement may not exceed $8,500.
TANF Work Requirements
Adults in families receiving cash assistance must work or participate in work related activities for a specified number of hours per week depending on the number of work-eligible adults in the family and the age of children.
| Type of Family | Work participation Hours Required |
|---|---|
| Single parents with a child under age 6 | 20 hours weekly in core work activities |
| Other single parent families or two-parent families where one parent is disabled | 30 hours weekly with at least 20 hours in core activities |
| Married teen or teen head of household under age 20 | Maintains satisfactory attendance at secondary school or the equivalent or participates in education related to employment for at least 20 hours weekly |
| Two-parent families who do not receive subsidized child care | 35 hours per week (total among both parents) with at least 30 hours in core activities |
| Two-parent families who receive subsidized child care | 55 hours per week with at least 50 hours in core activities |
Work Activities
Federal law includes 12 work activities. 9 of the activities are "core" activities in that they may be used to satisfy any of the average weekly participation requirements. The other 3 activities are "supplemental" in that they may only be used to satisfy the work activity requirement after the "core" requirement is met.
Core Activities
- Unsubsidized employment
- Subsidized private sector employment
- Subsidized public sector employment
- Job search and job readiness (limited to not more than 6 weeks in a federal fiscal year with not more than 4 weeks consecutive)
- Community service
- Work experience
- On-the-job training
- Vocational educational training (limited to 12 months for an individual), and
- Caring for a child of a recipient in community service
- Supplemental Activities
- Job skills training directly related to employment
- Education directly related to employment (for those without a high school or equivalent degree)
- Completion of a secondary school program
The work activity requirement applies to families with one or more adults in the assistance group. The requirement also applies to families where the adult has been sanctioned due to non-compliance with work requirements but the assistance has been continued to the children under a special hardship provision of state law.
"Child-only" families where the child lives with a relative and the needs of the relative are not included in the calculation of the benefit are not subject to the work requirement. In addition, adults who are not included in the calculation of the TANF benefit because they receive federal Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits or because they are ineligible non-citizens are not subject to the work requirement.
Time Limits
Federal law restricts receipt of federal TANF benefits to not more than 60 months of assistance. States may exempt up to 20 percent of the caseload from the time limit due to state-defined hardship.
Florida law limits receipt of assistance to not more than 48 cumulative months of assistance with exemptions to the time limit provided for hardship. Examples of hardship would include individuals receiving Social Security disability benefits (which are different than SSI benefits) or individuals caring for a disabled family member when the disability and the need for care have been medically verified.
Amount of Assistance
The amount of temporary cash assistance received by a family depends on family size and family circumstance. The following chart shows the maximum monthly benefit by family size, depending on the amount of the families' shelter obligation (such as rent payments).
Maximum benefits for larger families are defined in section 409.095, Florida Statutes. In calculating the amount of the monthly benefit, certain income is disregarded (not counted). For example, the first $200 of earnings is disregarded and half of the remaining earning is disregarded as an incentive to work.
| Family Size | Family has no shelter obligation (lives rent free) | Monthly shelter obligation is $50 or less | Monthly shelter obligation is more than $50 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $95 | $153 | $180 |
| 2 | $158 | $205 | $241 |
| 3 | $198 | $258 | $303 |
| 4 | $254 | $309 | $364 |
| 5 | $289 | $362 | $426 |
TANF-Funded Services
In addition to cash assistance, TANF funds are used to fund a wide variety of services that are not considered cash assistance. These services include child care, transportation, mental health counseling, child abuse prevention and early intervention, etc. Under Florida law, eligibility for TANF-funded services for families who are not receiving cash assistance is generally set at 200% of the poverty line. In 2006, 200% of poverty is about $32,200 annually or $2,683 per month for a family of three.
Florida Employment Search
Part of the requirement, while on the TANF program, is finding a job to help sustain your financial needs. Florida provides an online job site for you to search for employment. You can view the job site by clicking here.
Apply Online For Florida TANF
If you have questions about applying for TANF benefits, or you want to see if you can apply for TANF Georgia online, then visit the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families website here.