Household Composition - TAFDC

About the Household Composition Section

The Household Composition section is available in the following workflows:

  • Request for Assistance
  • Case Maintenance
  • Closed AUs
  • Extension Request
  • Reevaluation
  • Reinstatement

It contains the following pages:

  • Address
  • Phone
  • Email
  • Household

What is the Household Composition Section Used For?

The Household Composition section records the household’s contact information and the information about members of the household who may or may not be included in the TAFDC filing unit.

Each page requires completion when a Request for Assistance is completed and is available in the other workflows listed above when changes need to be made.

When the Household page appears in the workflow or you otherwise need to make changes to who is residing in the home, you will use it to:

  • add all people who are living in the household, whether they are requesting assistance or not,
  • add a person to the household who is currently listed with a status of Not Present but the client reports is in the home,
  • change a household member’s status to Not Present, or
  • remove a household member who is a duplicate of the household member listed as an Assessed Person.

The status for people added in the Household page will always be Basic. That status will change to Assessed when the person is processed on the Assessed Person page.

When a TAFDC Client Reports a New Household Member

Clients can report changes to their household at any time. The steps taken by the case manager when this information is received differs, depending on several factors. To determine the steps needed on the case, you must first determine:

  • What is the person’s relationship to the other members residing in the home?
  • Does the individual have a relationship that requires them to be part of the TAFDC Filing Unit or Assistance Unit?
  • Does the person have a relationship with other household members not receiving TAFDC that will now be required to be on the TAFDC case due to the relationship?
  • What is the age of the person being added?

How do I Add a Person to the Household Page?

To add a new person to the household, you must:

  1. access the Household page,
  2. click the Query List button to display the Household Query List popup page that shows any people associated with the grantee (there may not be any),

If the person is displayed:

  1. select the person you want to add and click Select,
  2. change the person’s Status in HH to Present, and
  3. go to step 7.

If the person is not displayed:

  1. click Select without selecting a member to enable to data entry fields on the page,
  2. enter the Last name, First name, Middle name, Birth date, and Gender of the household member,
  3. select the household member’s relationship to the grantee,
  4. if the grantee has a pending or active SNAP case, indicate if the household member purchases and prepares their food with the grantee, and

Note: You must select Yes if the person has a mandatory inclusion reason for SNAP. See Household Composition - SNAP.

  1. click the Save button to add the household member information.

If a person displayed in the Query List is receiving DTA benefits and resides at the same address, this is a Merge Household situation. You will be given a message:

“This is a household merge situation. Please click the Query List button and select the prechecked clients. If you do not want to merge the households then you must change one of the grantee addresses or match to a ’New’ address.”

Click OK and follow the instructions in the message. If you click Finish without doing so the following message will appear:

“People from the Grantee’s Current Residence Address were not selected from the Query List. Either select them from the Query List or cancel this page.”

Once you click OK and select the household members, you must click Finish. You will receive another message indicating a new household has been created for the grantee.

  • the system automatically exits from the interview when you click Next/Finish,
  • the Household page will be set to require reedit, and
  • you must reenter the interview by selecting the Case Maintenance workflow from the Workflow drop down list to change any other information on the page.

Important: If the household member is a Basic Person who has not provided a Social Security Number (SSN) to the Department, do not assign an alternate identifier in the Assessed person page. Instead obtain the SSN when you are speaking to the client.

Once added to the Household page see Household Composition: AU Composition Details - TAFDC for information on adding the person to the filing/assistance unit.

If it is not a Merge Household situation:

  1. select the person chosen from the Query List (who is now in the Select List field on the Household page),
  2. select the household member’s Relationship to the grantee if it has not been established, and
  3. if the grantee has a pending or active SNAP case, indicate if the household member purchases and prepares their food with the grantee.

How do I Remove a Person from the Household?

When a client reports a household member is no longer residing in the home, it is not sufficient to only remove them from the Assistance Unit using an ineligibility reason. You must also do so on the Household page. To remove a person from the household you must:

  1. select the household member from the list in the Select List field,
  2. change the Status in HH to Not Present if the person is not a duplicate, or
  3. change the Status in HH to Duplicate if applicable, and
  4. click Save to update the household member.

See Household Composition: AU Composition Details - TAFDC for information on removing the person from the filing/assistance unit.

To change a household member’s demographic information, you must go to the Assessed Person page to make the changes.

Reminder: Never issue an Alternate Identifier without first speaking to the client to determine if the person has an SSN.

How do I Add a Newborn Child to the TAFDC Case?

The most common change of household members reported by TAFDC clients is the birth of a child. One of the most important things to remember is that when a child is born to an active TAFDC client, the application date entered on the AU Mandatory/Responsible page must be the child’s date of birth, unless the client does not report the birth of the child within 60 days. This ensures that the child will receive healthcare coverage through MassHealth from birth when reported timely.

To ensure the correct retroactive benefit effective date for the child, the addition of the child to the TAFDC AU must not be wrapped with any other changes that are not due to the addition of the child.

Important: The Infant Allowance will be issued in an overnight batch unless the child has previously received one.

What if the Child’s Other Parent is Residing in the Home?

If the other parent is residing in the home at the time of the child’s birth, both the child and the other parent must be added to the TAFDC at the same time. The application date for both the child and the other parent would be the child’s date of birth.

  • The addition of the child and the other parent along with any income either member has would be combined in the Interview Wrapup.
  • Other reported changes that would affect the benefit amount, such as the client reporting they are moving to subsidized housing, must be entered and an interview Wrapup completed on day two.

How do I Add Other Household Members to the TAFDC Case?

If the person being added to the household is not a newborn, or a newborn and the other parent, the application date you must enter on the AU Mandatory/Responsible page is the date the client reported the change.

As with the addition of a newborn, other changes reported that are not a result of the addition of the new household member must be completed in a separate Interview Wrapup.

Examples of Adding Other Household Members to the TAFDC Case

If an active TAFDC client reports that the have gained custody of their sister’s child, that they have stopped working, and that they are receiving Paid Family Medical Leave (PFML) payments due to gaining custody of the child, then:

  • the application date for the child is the date the client reports the child is in the home, and
  • the addition of the child, the zeroing out of employment income, and the PFML income will be wrapped together.

This is because the addition of the child is directly related to the change in income.

If an active TAFDC client is receiving benefits for herself and one child, with her spouse as a deemor on the case, reports they have regained custody of another child who is also their spouse’s child, then:

  • the application date for the child is the date the client reported the child is in the home,
  • the spouse is now eligible to receive TAFDC effective with the same date, and
  • the Interview Wrapup would include the addition of the child and the spouse along with any income either of them have.

In the scenario above if the spouse were not the child’s other parent, the interview Wrapup would include only the child and any income the child has.

What if the Client Reports a New Household Member While the TAFDC Application is Pending?

In general, if the client indicates there is a new household member while the TAFDC application is still pending, the TAFDC must first be established with the accurate information at the time of application. The most common instance of this scenario is when a pregnant woman applies for TAFDC and gives birth while the TAFDC is pending.

In this case:

  • establish the TAFDC for the grantee and any other children in the home day one, and
  • add the newborn effective with their date of birth on day two.

Note: If the client applies as a pregnant woman and does not have any other children, establish the case as a pregnant woman.

Verifying SSNs for New Household Members

A Social Security Number (SSN) must be provided orally or in writing for any household member applying for TAFDC benefits, unless good cause exists.

When a client reports a newborn or adopted child, they may not yet have an SSN. In this case, the household may submit verification they have applied for an SSN through SSA.

When a child is born in a Massachusetts hospital, an application for an SSN is applied for on the child’s behalf. If an SSN is not provided for the child and the client has submitted a hospital birth record or birth certificate indicating the child was born in a Massachusetts hospital, you must enter the SSN application date as the child’s date of birth on the Assessed Person page. Do not click “unable to obtain”.

BEACON will then automatically assign a system generated Alternate Identifier for the child. The SSN for the child must then be provided by four months of age, unless good cause exists.

In most cases, if the child’s first and last name and date of birth are entered in BEACON correctly, a batch from SSA will update the child’s SSN.

An alternate Identifier must not be assigned for a US Citizen who is not a newborn.

See Alternate Identifiers and Social Security Number Requirements

 

Related Topics

Household Composition Policy and Procedures

Last Update: May 7, 2026