Food Stamps Tips
This document was prepared in September 2003 by the Greensboro Office
of Legal Aid of North Carolina, and provides educational information on the following:
* TIPS on dealing with
the food stamp office...
* Applying for emergency food
stamps...
* TIPS on Filing your first
application...
* You will be asked to
verify information...
* How long does
DSS have to process your application?
* How is the amount
of your food stamps figured?
* How do you get food
once you are approved?
* Getting re-certified for
food stamps...
* Appealing an adverse decision...
* Important telephone numbers...
* Other Legal Aid of North Carolina offices...
TIPS ON DEALING WITH
THE FOOD STAMP OFFICE
- Keep all papers that you receive from that office
- When you give your worker papers, write a date on each paper and keep a
copy
- Report all changes in household size or income within 10 days.
APPLYING FOR EMERGENCY FOOD
STAMPS
You will get your food stamps quicker (i.e., within seven calendar days) if
you qualify for quick processing - "emergency food stamps." You are
eligible to receive emergency food stamps IF, during the month your apply:
- Your total income will be $150 or less, OR
- Your income is less than your regular shelter expenses (i.e., rent and
utilities).
You can apply for emergency food stamps by going to your local
Department of Social Services (DSS) office and completing an application that
same day. Then a worker will evaluate whether or not you qualify.
TIP: There are advantages to applying for food stamps close to the start
of a month, especially if you just lost your job. By applying on the first
day of the month, only income expected to be received in that
month may be counted. Also, you will receive a full month of benefits,
instead of a smaller, prorated amount. Thus, if it is close to the end of
a month, you may want to delay applying until the first of the following month.
You can appeal a DSS refusal to give you emergency food stamps by requesting
an informal agency conference, which must be held within two working days.
TIPS ON FILING YOUR FIRST
APPLICATION
- You may apply on the same day you come in. The day you first
come to the Department of Social Services (DSS) office, you have the right
to sign the first page of your food stamp application. The amount of your
food stamps must be calculated starting on that day, even if your
face-to-face interview is not held until weeks later.
- What if you cannot get to the food stamps office? Call the DSS
office and ask them to mail an application to you. Fill out the application
and mail it back. In addition, you can name a family member, relative or
friend to be your "authorized representative," who can go to the DSS office
and represent you. If you cannot find someone to be your representative,
and you are sick or disabled, the food stamp office should interview you
over the telephone, or assign a worker to visit your home.
YOU WILL BE ASKED TO
VERIFY INFORMATION
- Your worker will request some information. Your food stamp
worker must verify (prove) that certain things are true (for example, your
income and assets, and who else lives in your home). However, your worker
may not ask you to verify information that you have already submitted, or
information that is irrelevant or impossible to prove (such as that you own
no assets).
- What if you cannot verify everything? Sometimes your worker will
insist that you give him/her information that you are unable to obtain (for
example, an earnings record from a former employer who will not
cooperate). In that case, ask your worker for help. To prove that you
asked for help, send to your worker a written request for help and keep a
copy of your request. This request for help should prevent your worker form
denying your application. Also, your food stamps may not be denied solely
because someone outside of your household does not provide information.
HOW LONG
DOES DSS HAVE TO PROCESS YOUR APPLICATION?
If you are eligible for "emergency" food stamps, your application must be
processed within seven (7) calendar days. If you are not eligible for
"emergency" food stamps, and your regular application is approved, you must be
given the ability to purchase food with your food stamps within thirty (30) days
of your date of application (this means that you must have received your EBT
("Electronic Benefits Transfer") card and been given a PIN number within 30
days).
TIP: If this deadline has not been met, contact your worker, and then
his/her supervisor. If you still do not get action, contact your local
Legal Aid of North Carolina office.
HOW IS THE
AMOUNT OF YOUR FOOD STAMPS FIGURED?
The amount of food stamps that you will receive depends mainly on your
household's size and income. You receive more food stamps the larger your
household size and the smaller your household income is. Your household
size is not always identical to the number of persons who live in your dwelling.
Instead, it is the number of persons who lives with you who purchase their food
together AND prepare their meals together. Certain closely related people
are automatically considered to be in the same household (spouse, parents and
their children under age 22, and children under 18 under parental control of an
adult). As an example, if you live with your five-year-old son and your
25-year-old sister, you would be considered a two-person household if your
sister purchased and prepared meals separately from you and your child.
TIP: If you live with a friend, but temporarily are unemployed, you
still may qualify as a separate household from your friend. While today
you don't have your own money to buy your food, you can still be a separate
household if your friend gives you money and you buy your food with it.
Also, tell your worker that once you resume working, you intend to use your
earnings to buy your food separately.
HOW DO YOU GET FOOD
ONCE YOU ARE APPROVED?
Once you are approved, you will be sent an "Electronic Benefits Transfer"
(EBT) card. A cover letter will explain how you get your "Personal
Identification Number" (PIN), which is a security code you will need to use your
EBT card. You may be asked to come to the Department of Social Services
(DSS) office to receive the PIN. You will also be given a telephone number
to call to check how many food stamps have been credited to your card.
Then, if you have been approved to receive food stamps, you can go to any
participating store and buy groceries up to the amount of the credited amount on
your EBT card. Your monthly food stamp allotment will be credited to your
EBT card sometime between the third and fifth day of each month (depending on
the last digits of your Social Security number).
GETTING RE-CERTIFIED FOR
FOOD STAMPS
When you initially apply for food stamps, normally you will be given food
stamps for a three, six or 12 month certification period. Normally you
will receive the same amount of food stamps all during that period. Once
that period ends, you must either must either go into the Department of Social
Services (DSS) office for a face-to-face re-certification interview, or you must
fill out a re-certification report. You should be given notice of your
interview (or must be sent a blank report to complete), in time for you to not
miss your usual issuance. For example, suppose your EBT card is normally
credited on the fifth of the month, and March 31st is the last day of your
six-month certification period. You probably will be given notice in
February that the re-certification interview will be on a date no later than
March 15th. If you make that appointment, and DSS receives all requested
information by March 31st, then your EBT card should be credited on April 5th.
If you fail to appear at the re-certification interview (or fail to mail in your
re-certification report), without calling your worker in advance, your benefits
may be late. You may even need to reapply.
APPEALING AN ADVERSE DECISION
You should be sent advance, written notice whenever your food stamps will be
reduced or terminated. You have 90 days to notify your worker (or his/her
supervisor) of your desire to appeal that decision. To protect yourself,
you may want to request the appeal in writing and keep a copy of your request.
Once you appeal, a state fair hearing will be scheduled and held one or two
months later at your local food stamp office. This state fair hearing will
be heard by an impartial hearing officer from Raleigh.
TIP: Contact your local Legal Aid of North Carolina office, who can evaluate
whether or not the food stamp office is acting correctly in your case.
Most Legal Aid of North Carolina offices will represent you at the state fair hearing if
they believe that the DSS office has not acted correctly.
IMPORTANT TELEPHONE NUMBERS
OTHER Legal Aid of North Carolina OFFICES
Click
here
to go to "Offices"
webpage
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purposes only and do not constitute legal advice. Please contact your
Legal Aid of North Carolina office or a private attorney if you need to speak to
an attorney regarding your particular situation. See our complete
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Legal Aid of North Carolina is a statewide, nonprofit law firm that
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order to ensure equal access to justice and to remove legal barriers
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