Tech Forum

One of our disabled members who is recieving church assistance to pay his rent and other expenses is on food stamps. He recieved a letter from Social Services requesting documentation from our branch as to how much and how often he has recived church help, to weight in his current food stamp benefits.

I have never seen a request for this before from SS in requiring members of the Church who get food stamps to provided information on the church help they recieved. It seems illegitmate for SS to request this, as the members are not being reimbursed for as if they are being compensated for services rendered.

Can SS treat chartible contributions from the Church as a factor for determining how much food stamps they are elgible for?

Does the Church have a policy and procedure for dealing and provding doucmentation of such requests?

If I was in your shoes, I'd contact Local Unit support. I don't think I'd accept what the person answering the phone said unless they talked to the supervisor. In fact, I'd suggest talking to legal.

An alternative is to talk to the stake clerk, and have him escalate the question.

rashirtz wrote:Does the Church have a policy and procedure for dealing and provding doucmentation of such requests?

Yes. Church welfare assistance is confidential. You do not provide the information without the written consent of the member. There is a form that the member must sign and give to the bishop authorizing release of the information.

See the letter dated July 21, 2014 from the Presiding Bishopric, Responding to Government Inquiries about Church Welfare Assistance. This letter is available in the Official Communication Library. The form the member must sign is attached to the letter.

The letter also contains information on how to proceed in certain other circumstances when information is requested by government agencies.

As to your other questions, including whether the member should provide the information, those are not answered in the letter. There is a contact number that the bishop may use for further information if he has any questions concerning the request.

I contacted local support in the welfare unit. They will provide a letter from the presiding bishopric as well as well as a form "Authorization to Release Church Welfare Information". This form is needed when a member wanting government welfare requires that the church releases its own welfare information for that individual. In case someone is more savvy than I am at finding the form somewhere else, it is associated with the July 21, 2014 letter.