Role of the Eligibility Specialist

Within seven calendar days after receiving the Foster Care Assistance Application and related documentation from the child’s caseworker, the foster care eligibility specialist must do all of the following:

• Obtain birth verification for children born in Texas from the Department of State Health Services (DSHS) Vital Statistics TxEVER System, if the caseworker does not provide birth verification. The BVS Vital Statistics TxEVER record also serves as verification of the child’s U.S. citizenship status. Eligibility staff prints the child’s birth record from TxEVER and scans and emails a copy to the caseworker.
• Verify the child’s Social Security number (SSN) and receipt of Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits through use of SSA’s Wire Third Party Query System (WTPY) system and include a copy in the child’s eligibility file. If the eligibility specialist determines that the child has never had an SSN issued by the Social Security Administration, the specialist must contact the child’s caseworker to complete the Social Security Administration’s Form SS-5 Application for a Social Security CardExternal Link and to coordinate with the regional Supplemental Security Income (SSI) coordinator and other regional staff to process the request for an SSN.
• Search the Health and Human Services Commission’s (HHSC) Texas Integrated Eligibility Redesign Project (TIERS), the Office of the Attorney General’s (OAG) Child Support and the Data Broker systems to obtain the child and family’s income and resource information during the AFDC eligibility month, which is the month the court proceedings were initiated.
• Determine the child’s eligibility by processing the Foster Care Assistance Application in IMPACT.
• Record the child’s eligibility in IMPACT.
• Place all documents related to the eligibility determination in the child’s eligibility file.