UPDATE: I finally reached a supervisor today! She reviewed my case and admitted TWO errors: 1. They DID wrongly count my Work Study income (showed her my award letter and she immediately recognized the mistake) 2. Since it was their error with "losing" my SAR7 (which was submitted on time), I qualify for restored benefits for the missing half of the month! They're fixing both issues and I should get the correct benefits in 3-5 business days. She also gave me her direct line in case there are any more problems. THANK YOU everyone for your advice and support - especially about knowing the specific regulations! It made a huge difference when I could quote the exact policies. Will update when the money actually comes through.

YES!! This is exactly how it should work when you know your rights and can back them up with actual policy! So happy you got both issues resolved. Your story is going to help so many other people who face the same problems - saving this thread for future reference. It's crazy how many workers don't know the Work Study exemption rule, but having that award letter as proof makes all the difference. Hope your payment comes through quickly and you can get caught up on rent! 🙌

UPDATE: I just got a call from my worker - they received my mailed documents and my application is now approved! Benefits will be backdated to my original application date. So relieved this nightmare is finally over. For anyone else dealing with pending applications - keep calling until you get answers!

This is such valuable information, thank you for sharing your experience! I'm currently dealing with a similar situation - my application has been pending for 3 weeks now and I keep getting the runaround when I call. Reading all these comments makes me realize I need to be way more proactive about following up. I'm going to start mailing physical copies of everything today, even though the website says my documents were received. It's frustrating that we have to work around a broken system, but I'm grateful for this community sharing real solutions. Has anyone had success getting through to a supervisor when the regular workers can't help?

One more thing - since your son is on SSI, remember that his SSI money is completely separate from your CalWORKs budget. The SSI recipient is excluded from the CalWORKs household size calculation, and their income/resources don't count toward CalWORKs eligibility. This is actually positive for you in this situation - as long as you can show the money was just passing through his account and wasn't actually new income to your CalWORKs household, you should be fine. The investigator was probably just making sure those deposits weren't unreported income that would affect your CalWORKs eligibility.

I've been through a similar fraud investigation and want to share what helped me get through it. First, the fact that you're still receiving payments is actually a really good sign - they typically suspend benefits immediately if they think there's actual fraud happening. Second, that system status issue is super common during investigations. My CalWORKs showed "pending" for almost 2 months even though I kept getting my deposits. Here's what I learned: keep calling your worker every few days (I know it's frustrating with the hold times), and if possible, try to visit the office in person. Sometimes they can update you on the investigation status faster face-to-face. Also, make sure you have copies of everything you sent the investigator - bank statements, those text messages from family members about the loans, anything showing the money was temporary help and not unreported income. The investigators deal with actual fraud cases all the time, so when someone is cooperative and has documentation like you did, they usually close the case pretty quickly. Just hang in there - it sounds like you handled everything correctly!

Update: I finally got through to my county office after trying for days! The worker I spoke with was much more helpful than the first one. They explained that they didn't apply the childcare deduction correctly - we pay my mother-in-law $300/week to watch our younger kids while we work, but the first worker didn't count it because it's paid to a relative! The new worker said they CAN count it if we provide the right documentation. They're reopening our case to recalculate! Also found out we qualify for more CalFresh than they initially approved. Fingers crossed this works out better!

This is exactly why I always tell people to ask for a different worker if the first one seems rushed or unhelpful! So many CalWORKs workers don't fully understand all the deductions available, especially the childcare rules for relatives. The fact that they missed a $1,200/month childcare deduction is huge - that's the difference between qualifying and not qualifying for most families. I've seen this happen so many times where families get denied because the worker didn't ask the right questions or didn't know all the rules. Your persistence really paid off! For anyone else reading this - always ask specifically about ALL childcare costs, even if paid to family members, and don't give up after the first denial if something doesn't seem right about the calculation.

Just wanted to mention that many counties are REALLY behind in processing applications right now. We applied in January and didn't get approved until March. Make sure you follow up constantly and keep copies of EVERYTHING you submit. They lost my husband's VA documentation twice and we had to resubmit it. So frustrating.

As a newcomer to this community, I wanted to share that I'm in a very similar situation! My partner is also a veteran receiving VA disability benefits and we have a toddler. Reading through all these responses has been so helpful - I had no idea that VA disability benefits were exempt income for CalWORKs purposes. One thing I'm wondering about that I haven't seen addressed yet - does anyone know if there are specific deadlines we need to be aware of when applying? Like, if we're facing eviction next month, how quickly can we realistically expect to see benefits if we apply this week? The immediate need payment option that @Alicia mentioned sounds promising, but I'm curious about real-world timelines from people who've actually been through the process recently. Also, for those who successfully got approved - did you apply online through BenefitsCal or go to the office in person? I'm trying to figure out which route might be faster given our time crunch. Thanks so much for sharing all your experiences - it's giving me hope that we might actually qualify for help!