DPSS ePolicy

The unborn child’s parent is:

1. Someone who is unmarried living in the home with the pregnant mother and is not the parent or caretaker relative of another eligible/aided child or is not an essential person;
2. Excluded from the Assistance Unit (AU); however, their income and needs are considered to determine eligibility for the unborn child;
3. Responsible for the support of their children, including an unborn child; and
4. Not responsible for the support of the unborn child’s other parent and/or children who are not in common.

Note: The parent of the unborn is not considered an Unrelated Adult since they are related to the unborn child by blood.

Eligibility staff can refer to Administrative Releases (ARs) 82-820 Assistance Unit and 82-832 Excluded Members, for further details.

Treatment of Income and Needs

The treatment of income and needs is determined as follows for the parent of the unborn regardless if the case is associated to:

• An application for a Pregnant Woman Only (PWO); or
• An approved case that consists of a pregnant participant with “other” eligible children.

Note: The parent of the unborn is not entitled to receive CalWORKs benefits for themselves since they are excluded.

Deprivation – PWO Applicant Case

When the parent of the unborn child lives with the PWO AU and there are no children in common, deprivation must be considered to determine eligibility (incapacity or unemployment).

• If deprivation exists, then the PWO case will consist of the PWO only as the parent of the unborn is excluded as long as the AU meets the income eligibility requirements.
  
  Reference the Treatment of Income and Needs section for further details.
  
  
• If deprivation does not exist, then the PWO is ineligible as the unmarried parent's income exceeds the MBSAC limits for two (PWO and parent of unborn) as the needs of the parent of the unborn are taken into consideration.
  
  Reference the Treatment of income and Needs section for further details.

Refer to Administrative Release 41-400 Deprivation for further details.

CalFresh and Medi-Cal

The parent of the unborn must be evaluated for Medi-Cal as well as for CalFresh, if applicable.

Adding the newborn

The following is taken into consideration when the child is born:

Semi-Annual Reporting (SAR)

• If increase in benefits, then the child is added the first of the month after the birth is reported and all conditions of eligibility have been met.
• If decrease in benefits, then the child is added the first day of the next SAR Payment Period after the change is reported on the SAR 7, Semi-Annual Eligibility Status Report, or the SAWS 2 PLUS, Application for CalFresh, Cash Aid, and/or Medi-Cal/Health Care Programs, and after all conditions of eligibility have been met.

Annual Reporting/Child-Only (AR/CO)

• If increase in benefits, then the child is added the first of the month after the birth is reported and all conditions of eligibility have been met.
• If decrease in benefits, then the child is added the first of the month after the birth is reported and all conditions of eligibility have been met.

Adding the parent of an unborn to an approved pregnant person case

Deprivation Evaluation

First, a deprivation evaluation must be conducted as follows:

• If deprivation continues to exist, then the parent is aided based on Beginning Date of Aid (BDA) rules for SAR or AR/CO cases. See below.
• If deprivation no longer exists and there are other children "not in common", then the unmarried parent and their child in common are not aided and their income is not used in the CalWORKs grant determination for the children “not in common” with the other parent.

BDA - SAR

The birth of a child must be reported at SAR 7 or Renewal (RE).

Note: When the birth of a child is reported outside of a SAR 7 or RE, the report is treated as a voluntary mid-period report.

• If increase in benefits, then the parent is aided beginning the first of the following month in which the child is born as long as conditions of eligibility are met.
• If decrease in benefits, then the parent is aided beginning the first of the month of the following SAR Payment Period as long as all conditions of eligibility are met.
• If discontinuance of benefits, then the case is discontinued at the end of the current payment period.

BDA – AR/CO

AR/CO cases must report changes in family composition within ten days. If a change in family composition is not reported timely and leads to a decrease in the CalWORKs grant, an overpayment must be created.

• If increase or decrease in benefits, then the parent is aided beginning the first of the following month in which the child is born with a ten-day Notice of Action (NOA). 
• If discontinued benefits, then the case is discontinued at the end of the month in which the child is born with a ten-day NOA.

Required Forms/Policy

PWO Case

If a pregnant woman with no other eligible children is living with the parent (unmarried/married) of the unborn, the parent:

• Must sign all documents used to establish eligibility (i.e., SAWS 2 PLUS, Application for CalFresh, Cash Aid, and/or Medi-Cal/Health Care Programs, and SAWS 2A SAR, Rights, Responsibilities and Other Important Information);
• Must meet all requirements as though they were aided (i.e., GAIN, etc.); and 
• (If they have income) is treated as an excluded parent with income.
  
  Note: Once the child is born, the parent of the unborn will no longer be excluded.