441—93.109 (239B) The family investment agreement (FIA). As a FIP eligibility factor, families and individuals eligible for FIP shall, through any persons referred to PROMISE JOBS, enter into and carry out the activities of an FIA. In two-parent families, both parents shall participate in the development and signing of an FIA. When an adult is incompetent or incapacitated, someone acting responsibly on the adult’s behalf may participate in the interview.
Failure to develop or sign an FIA shall result in denial of the family’s application for public assistance, as described at 441—paragraph 41.24(4)“c.” Participants who choose not to enter into an FIA or who choose not to continue its activities after signing an FIA shall enter into the limited benefit plan (LBP) as described at 441—subrule 41.24(8). Those who choose not to enter into the FIA and who have filed Form 470-3826, Request for FIP Beyond 60 Months, shall be denied FIP as described at 441—paragraph 41.30(3)“e.”
	 93.109(1) FIA-responsible persons.
	  a.   	 All parents who are not exempt from PROMISE JOBS shall be responsible for signing and carrying out the activities of the FIA.
	  b.   	 In addition, any other adults or a minor nonparental specified relative whose needs are included in the FIP grant shall be responsible for the FIA.
	  c.   	 Rescinded IAB 7/21/04, effective 9/1/04.
	  d.   	 When the FIP-eligible group holds a minor parent living with a parent or needy specified relative who receives FIP, as described at 441—paragraph 41.28(2)“b”(2), and both are referred to PROMISE JOBS, each parent or needy specified relative is responsible for a separate FIA.
	  e.   	 When the FIP-eligible group holds a parent or parents or needy specified relative and a child or children who are all mandatory PROMISE JOBS participants, each parent or needy specified relative and each child would not have a separate FIA. All would be asked to sign one FIA with the family and to carry out the activities of that FIA. Copies of the FIA would be placed in individual case files.
	  f.   	 When the FIP-eligible group holds a parent or parents or needy specified relative who is exempt from PROMISE JOBS and a child or children who are mandatory PROMISE JOBS participants, each child is responsible for completing a separate FIA.
	 93.109(2) FIA requirements. Except when developing the six-month FIA described at 441—paragraph 41.30(3)“e,” the FIA shall be developed during the orientation and assessment process through discussion between FIP applicants and participants and PROMISE JOBS staff of coordinating PROMISE JOBS provider agencies, using Form 470-3095, Family Investment Agreement, and Form 470-3096, FIA Steps to Achieve Self-Sufficiency. FIAs may include further assessment services. The FIAs described at 441—paragraph 41.30(3)“e” may include orientation and assessment services.
	  a.   	 The FIA shall require the FIA-responsible persons and family members who are referred to PROMISE JOBS to choose participation in one or more activities which are described below. The level of participation in one or more of the options shall be equivalent to the level of commitment required for full-time employment or shall be significant so as to move toward that level.
	 (1) 	 The options of the FIA shall include, but are not limited to, all of the following: assessment, self-directed job search, job-seeking skills training, group and individual job search, high school completion activities, GED, ABE, ESL, postsecondary classroom training including entrepreneurial training, work experience, PROMISE JOBS on-the-job training, unpaid community service, parenting skills training, life skills training, monitored part-time or full-time employment, referral for family planning counseling, and participation in FaDSS or other family development programs.
	 (2) 	 The following are additional FIA options:
	  1. 	 Participants have access to all services offered by the provider agencies.
	  2. 	 Persons in work and training programs below a graduate degree which do not lead to a professional degree and which are funded outside of PROMISE JOBS and are approvable by PROMISE JOBS can use those as FIA options.
	  3. 	 Persons in work and training programs not leading to a degree beyond a bachelor’s degree which are funded outside of PROMISE JOBS and are not approvable by PROMISE JOBS can use those as FIA options only when the participant is active in the nonapprovable program at the time of PROMISE JOBS orientation.
	  4. 	 Rescinded IAB 7/21/04, effective 9/1/04.
	 (3) 	 It is expected that employment shall be the principal activity of the FIA or shall be combined with other FIA options whenever it is possible for the participant to do so as part of the plan to achieve self-sufficiency.
	 (4) 	 Participants who are placed on a waiting list, as described at 93.105(3), for a PROMISE JOBS component or supportive service shall include employment in the FIA unless family circumstances indicate that employment is not appropriate.
	  b.   	 The FIA shall reflect, to the maximum extent possible, the goals of the family, subject to program rules, funding, the capability, experience and aptitudes of family members, and the potential market for the job skills currently possessed or to be developed.
	 (1) 	 The FIA shall include the goals of the family for achieving self-sufficiency and shall establish a time frame, with a specific ending date, during which the FIA family expects to become self-sufficient, after which FIP benefits will be terminated. For individuals and families with acknowledged barriers, the family’s plan may be written in one or more incremental FIAs.
	 (2) 	 The FIA shall outline the expectations of the PROMISE JOBS program and of the family, clearly establishing interim goals necessary to reach the long-term goals and self-sufficiency.
	  1. 	 It shall identify barriers to participation so that the FIA may include a plan, appropriate referrals, and supportive services necessary to eliminate the barriers.
	  2. 	 It shall stipulate specific services to be provided by the PROMISE JOBS program, including child care assistance, transportation assistance, family development services, and other supportive services.
	 (3) 	 The FIA shall record participant response to the option of referral for family planning counseling. Participants who desire to do so may include family planning counseling in the steps of the FIA. It is not acceptable for the FIA to have family planning counseling as the only step of the FIA. Policies regarding family planning and the LBP are described at rule 441— 93.118(239B).
	 (4) 	 Parents aged 19 and younger shall include parenting skills training as described at rule 441—93.116(239B) in the FIA.
	 (5) 	 Unmarried parents aged 17 and younger who do not live with a parent or legal guardian, with good cause as described at 441—subrule 41.22(16), shall include FaDSS, as described at 441—Chapter 165, or other family development services, as described at rule 441—93.119(239B), in the FIA. The FaDSS or other family development services shall continue after the parent is aged 18 only when the participant and the family development worker believe that the services are needed for the family to reach self-sufficiency.
	  c.   	 The FIA may incorporate a self-sufficiency plan which the family has developed with another agency or person, such as, but not limited to, Head Start, public housing authorities, child welfare workers, and FaDSS grantees, so long as that self-sufficiency plan meets the requirements of these rules and is deemed by PROMISE JOBS staff to be appropriate to the family circumstances. Participants shall authorize PROMISE JOBS to obtain the self-sufficiency plan and to arrange coordination with the manager of the self-sufficiency plan by signing Form 470-0429, Consent to Obtain and Release Information.
	  d.   	 The FIA shall contain a provision for extension of the time frames and amendment of the FIA if funding for PROMISE JOBS components included in the FIA or required supportive services is not available.
	  e.   	 The FIA shall be signed by the FIA-responsible person or persons and other family members who are referred to PROMISE JOBS, the PROMISE JOBS worker, and the project supervisor, before the FIA is considered to be completed.
	  f.   	 If the FIA-responsible person demonstrates effort and is carrying out the steps of the FIA but is unable to achieve self-sufficiency within the time frame specified in the FIA, the FIA shall be renegotiated, the time frame shall be extended and the FIA shall be amended to describe the new plan for self-sufficiency.
	  g.   	 Participants who choose not to cooperate in the renegotiation process shall be considered to have chosen the LBP.
	  h.   	 Responsibility for carrying out the steps of the FIA ends at the point that FIP assistance is not provided to the participant.
	  i.   	 When a participant who has signed an FIA loses FIP eligibility and the participant has not become exempt from PROMISE JOBS at the time of FIP reapplication, the contents of the FIA and the participant’s responsibility for carrying out the steps of that FIA may be reinstated when the steps of the FIA fit the family’s current circumstances. The FIA shall be renegotiated and amended if needed to accommodate changed family circumstances.