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Food Stamp Screening Tools |
California Has a Pre-Screening Protocol! Because California’s Food Stamp Program is complicated, it can be difficult to determine if a family may be eligible simply using the income guidelines. For this reason, most outreach programs throughout the state use some sort of pre-screening tool or several different tools. However, any organization that chooses to do any sort of pre-screening should follow the protocol below. Please Note: All pre-screening tools are updated every October with new income guidelines and are frequently updated as a result of changes in policy. Therefore, if using a screening tool, you should frequently update your tool by returning to this website and remind people that they should consider applying even if upon prescreening it looks like they may not be eligible. Only your local food stamp office can determine if you are eligible for food stamps. There are many screening tools available to help determine if someone is potentially eligible for food stamps. Below is an inventory of these tools and how they should and should not be used: USDA Online Pre-screening Tool: Unfortunately, this online tool is not a good place for Californian's to determine potential eligibility due to special laws in California that prevent people on Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and the suplement provided by California State Supplemental Portion (SSP) from receiving food stamps and due to a California program offering food stamps to certain immigrants not eligible under federal law. No similar online screening tool exists in California at this point. Excel Pre-screening Tool for California: The California Association of Food Bank has updated this excel screening tool (originally developed by Benchmark Institute) that requires no technology. This tool is especially helpful to determine potential eligibility for elderly or disabled household members or mixed status households, where some members have legal-permanent or citizenship status and others do not. In these cases, the standard income guidelines may not apply as the income of certain household members may need to be pro-rated. Please Note: This tool and all screening tools are updated every October, with new income guidelines and sometimes sooner due to changes in food stamp laws or benefits. To register to receive updates of this tool, click here. The Food Stamp Application and Screening Tool (FAST): FAST offers community based organizations a way to screen for potential food stamp eligibility and assist in application and follow-up applicants. In approximately seven minutes, a client is screened and a printable California Form DFA-1 Food Stamp application pre-filled with the client’s information is generated. The current tool also prints a Confidentiality Waiver and a Next Steps flyer based on information provided by the county, directing the client to the closest Food Stamp office based on the client’s ZIP code or offers instructions on applying over the phone. You may click here to register as a FAST user, download training materials and user guide and to download a copy of the FAST database. California’s Pre-screening Protocol Prescreening is a process during which callers answer a few questions regarding major criteria for food stamp eligibility. This process is referred to as “prescreening” to reinforce that it is not a process to determine eligibility and it does not “screen out” potential applicants. While prescreening is an essential piece of California’s outreach efforts, it can also offer an opportunity to spread incorrect information or inappropriately discourage a person from applying for food stamps. For this reason, California’s outreach stakeholders agreed upon a pre-screening protocol in 2007. Below are the premises of this protocol:
Prescreening only determines whether the caller may be eligible for food stamps. There are many factors that go into determining food stamp eligibility that this quick assessment does not take into account. Prescreening encourages people who are potentially eligible to apply for food stamps. Prescreening saves people time and effort if they are likely not eligible for food stamps. Every caller must be informed that only an eligibility worker in a county food stamp office can make a final decision about whether a household is eligible for food stamps.
During the course of conducting a pre-screening, you may learn confidential information, such as names of household members, financial information, medical or employment history. When dealing with any personal confidential information, abide by all rules and regulations regarding confidential data. Do not ask more information than necessary. Prescreening can be completed anonymously. Do not ask for a last name, social security number, address, or other personal or identifying information that is not directly required for determining potential food stamp eligibility. If more information is needed later for the application, capture it then. For more about maintaining confidentiality while conducting Food Stamp Outreach, see http://www.myfoodstamps.org/FSOsecurity.html.
The Food Stamp Program is an entitlement program and everyone has the right to apply. In California, the Food Stamp Program is administrated by the county food stamp office. All people have the right to speak with an eligibility worker and file a food stamp application, regardless of the prescreening results. Remember that no one should be required to be prescreened in order to apply for the Food Stamp Program. People should be informed that by being prescreened, she is not applying for food stamps.
Every caller must be informed that only an eligibility worker in a county food stamp office can make a final decision about whether or not a person is eligible for food stamps.
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