The Economic Self-Sufficiency Services Program Office is responsible for all public assistance benefit eligibility services operated by DCF, such as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP), known in Florida as the Food Assistance program; Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), known in Florida as Temporary Cash Assistance; and Medicaid.  In addition, the office is responsible for the Homelessness Program, Public Benefits Integrity, and Refugee Assistance Programs.

• The Automated Community Connection to Economic Self Sufficiency (ACCESS) is Florida's service delivery model for the state's public assistance benefit program.  ACCESS determines eligibility for programs such as Temporary Cash Assistance, Food Assistance, and Medicaid.  Department staff, with the support from a broad statewide network of community partners, provide the following services.
  
  • Temporary Cash Assistance provides cash assistance to families with children under the age of 18, or through age 18 if the 18-year-old is enrolled in high school full time. The program provides time-limited financial assistance and services intended to help families gain economic self-sufficiency. These families must meet the program's technical, income, and asset requirements.
  • Food Assistance Program (SNAP) helps low income families meet their household nutritional needs by supplementing their food purchasing power with a monthly benefit allotment based on the number of people in the house hold and how much money is left after countable expenses are subtracted. Families must meet the program's eligibility rules. Food assistance benefits may only be used to purchase groceries; they may not be used to purchase household items such as cleaning supplies, grooming items, tobacco, or alcoholic beverages.
  • SNAP Employment and Training (E&T) is jointly administered by DCF and the Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO). Florida's SNAP E&T program is designed to assist Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents (ABAWDs) gain skills, training, and/or work experience that will increase their ability to obtain regular employment that leads to economic self-sufficiency. ABAWDs are required to meet work requirements in order to maintain Food Assistance eligibility. DCF determines ABAWD status and refers these recipients to DEO for engagement. SNAP E&T participants complete an initial orientation, assessment, and interview with DEO and are then assigned to an E&T activity. SNAP E&T activities include job search, education, vocational training, and work experience. Services are provided by local Career Source centers across the state.
  • Non-Relative Caregiver/Relative Program provides monthly cash assistance to non-relatives/relatives who have custody of a non-related/related child under age 18, who has been adjudicated dependent by court order, a home study has been completed and filed with the court, and the caregiver is unable to financially care for the child without the assistance. The monthly cash assistance amount for the non-relative caregiver is higher than a Temporary Cash Assistance grant for one child, but less than the amount paid for a child in the foster care program.
  • Optional State Supplementation/Personal Needs Allowance (OSS/PNA)is a state-funded public assistance program that provides a monthly cash payments to indigent elderly or disabled individuals who live in special non-institutional, residential living facilities, including assisted living facilities, adult family care homes and mental health residential treatment facilities. To qualify for OSS/PNA, an individual must need assistance with the activities of daily living due to physical and/or mental conditions.
  • Medicaid provides medical coverage to low income individuals and families. While eligibility for Medicaid is determined by ACCESS, services and payment for services are administered by the Agency for Health Care Administration (AHCA). ACCESS determines Medicaid eligibility for families with children; children only; pregnant women; non-citizens with medical emergencies; and aged and/or disabled individuals not currently receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI).
  • The Florida Customer Call Center serves Florida families who are making general inquiries or seeking information about their applications or benefits. There are three customer call center sites located in Jacksonville, Miami, and Tampa; however, each site provides support statewide. An Interactive Voice Response (IVR) System also provides callers with the most recent information related to their case.

• The Homelessness Program coordinates the resources of various state agencies and programs to serve individuals or families who are homeless based on certain criteria found in 24 CFR 576.2. The program contracts with U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)-designated Continuum of Care (CoC) lead agencies.  Twenty-seven CoC's provide services that fall into the following categories.
  • Street Outreach reaches out to unsheltered homeless people, connects them with emergency shelter or housing , and provides urgent, non-facility-based care to those unwilling or unable to access emergency shelter or housing.
  • Emergency Shelter serves homeless families or individuals in emergency shelters, renovates buildings to be used as emergency shelters, and may cover costs of operations, rent, security, fuel, equipment, insurance, utilities, food, furnishings, supplies, or hotel/motel vouchers.
  • Homelessness Prevention funds may be used to provide housing relocation and stabilization services and short/medium term rental assistance to prevent the need for emergency shelter.
  • Rapid Rehousing provides housing relocation and stabilization services, and short/medium term rental assistance to help a homeless individual or family into more permanent housing.
   
• Refugee Assistance aids refugees to promote economic self-sufficiency and successful integration into American society in the shortest time after arrival to the U.S.  Financial and medical assistance is limited to individuals meeting specific non-citizen criteria not eligible for Florida's Temporary Cash Assistance and Medicaid programs, but meeting the same income eligibility criteria, and is limited to a maximum of eight months. The refugee program is 100% federally funded through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement.  DCF enters into contractual agreements with various organizations, typically not for profit community-based organizations and local governments, to assist refugees in obtaining employment, learning English, and integrating into Florida's communities.

For Fiscal Year 2018-19, the number of Florida citizens who received services as a result of the program's eligibility determination efforts is shown below. 

The program is funded as part of the Economic Self-Sufficiency Program budget entity.

Homelessness.  The 2020 Legislature enacted Ch. 2020-44, Laws of Florida, which makes a number of changes to grants, programs, and services designed to assist the homeless. The law provides requirements for continuum of care catchment areas and requires lead agencies to create continuum of care plans.  The law adds representatives from the Florida Housing Coalition and the Department of Elder Affairs to the Council on Homelessness.  Additionally, the law increases the amount of Challenge Grant funds each lead agency may receive annually from $500,000 to $750,000 and reduces the matching funds or in-kind support requirement from 100 percent to 25 percent.  The law also makes changes to the criteria for recipients of Rapid Rehousing and Housing First services. 

Other Reports
The Auditor General reports on department operations are located on its website.

The Department of Children and Families' Office of the Inspector General reports are available on its website.

Poverty Reduction: HHS Can Improve Information to Assist States and Localities in Adopting Approaches That Serve Whole Families, U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-20-382, May 7, 2020.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: More Complete and Accurate Information Needed on Employment and Training Programs, U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-19-56, November 20, 2018.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program: Disseminating Information on Successful Use of Data Analytics Could Help States Manage Fraud Risks, GAO-19-115, October 2, 2018.
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Enhanced Tools and Reporting to Combat Recipient Fraud are in Development, U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-16-719T, June 9, 2016.
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Update on States County Third-Party Expenditures Toward Maintenance of Efforts Requirements, U.S. Government Accountability Office, GAO-16-315, February 2016.

Websites of Interest
Department of Children and Families, Local Community Partners Agencies
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Family Assistance, Data & Reports
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Family Assistance
Mathematica Policy Research, Inc., Nutrition Policy Research
Florida Coalition to End Homelessness 
National Alliance to End Homelessness
United States Interagency Council on Homelessness
U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Refugee Resettlement
U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration

Performance Information
Performance measures and standards for the department may be found in its Long Range Program Plan and Planning and Performance Measures, which reports the department's performance on external and internal measures for its various programs. The measures allow the user to view performance at both a statewide and geographic region level.

ACCESS Customer Call Center, 1-866-762-2237
Website
 
Office on Homelessness, 850-922-4691
Website

Refugee Assistance
Tallahassee Headquarters, 850-488-3791
DCF ACCESS, 850-300-4323
Website