When completing an eligibility determination, the eligibility specialist must always review the following documents to ensure consistency with the information recorded on the Foster Care Assistance Application:

• Affidavit
• Original petition
• Initial removal order

If information affecting the child’s foster care eligibility is found to be inconsistent between any of these documents, or within the Foster Care Assistance Application itself, the eligibility specialist must do the following:

• Contact the caseworker to get clarification on which information is correct.
• Update the appropriate section on the Foster Care Assistance Application.

Examples of Inconsistent Documentation

• Documentation states that the adult the child lived with at the time of removal was the grandparent, but in another place it states the adult was the child’s adoptive parent. The eligibility specialist must correctly assess the relationship of that adult to the child to determine whether the adult’s income should be counted for IV-E eligibility.
• Documentation that the parent meets the underemployed parent criteria is not consistent. The eligibility specialist must resolve this conflict in order to correctly determine whether Parental Deprivation existed.