I work with CalWORKs recipients, and this is a situation I see frequently. Here's what you need to do: 1. Contact your worker immediately and request form CW 2186A (Request for CalWORKs Exemption) 2. Schedule an appointment with your son's doctor to complete the form, explaining that he needs to document full-time care requirements 3. Submit this documentation BEFORE your WTW orientation if possible 4. If timing doesn't work out, attend the orientation but inform them you've applied for a caregiver exemption 5. Request your case be put on hold until the exemption determination is made Also, keep in mind that caring for a disabled family member can be challenging, so ask about supportive services like IHSS (In-Home Supportive Services) if you haven't already applied. This program might provide payment for some of the care you provide to your adult son.

To answer your follow-up question - yes, IHSS can work alongside CalWORKs, but there are some important things to know. IHSS payments received for caring for your disabled adult son would count as income and could reduce your Cash Aid amount. However, the total between both programs is typically more than CalWORKs alone. Additionally, IHSS income may qualify you for an earned income exemption that lets you keep more of your benefits. It's worth looking into because it provides more stable long-term support, especially since CalWORKs has the 48-month lifetime limit.

Just pointing out something important - if your parents get approved for a child-only case, they'll have to submit a SAR-7 report every 6 months and a SAWS-2 recertification once a year. Make sure they report accurately and on time or benefits can stop. Also they need to report within 10 days if your living arrangement changes (like if your son stops staying with them 5 nights a week). The county sometimes does home visits to verify living situations for these types of cases.

Thank you everyone for all this information! I'm going to help my parents apply for the Non-Needy Caretaker Relative case for my son. We'll gather all the documentation showing he stays with them during the week while I work. I'll also look into the childcare assistance program - that could be a game-changer for us financially. I really appreciate all your advice and warnings about the application process. I'll make sure to keep copies of everything and follow up regularly. This community has been so helpful!

To answer your question about the 48-month time limit: No, months when you have an exemption (like for having a child under 12 months) DO NOT count toward your 48-month lifetime limit. So right now, your CalWORKs clock is essentially paused until your baby turns 1. However, this is something you should monitor carefully. Sometimes counties make mistakes in tracking exempt months. You can request a "Time on Aid" report at any time to see exactly how many months have been counted against your 48-month limit.

Let me tell you about another SCAM they pull - they'll send you notices about mandatory appointments with like 2 days notice when they KNOW you won't get the letter in time, then cut you off for "failure to comply" when you miss it! ALWAYS check your BenefitsCal account every few days even if you're not expecting anything. I got a notice in the mail AFTER the appointment date had already passed! Then had to spend 3 weeks getting my benefits turned back on. They prey on new moms especially because they know we're exhausted and overwhelmed.

Quick update on Immediate Need since someone mentioned it: If you're truly in an emergency situation (like about to be evicted), you can request an Immediate Need payment from CalWORKs. You'd need to contact your county worker and explain the situation. If approved, they can issue funds within 3 business days up to $200. But this is only for true emergencies and they count it against your future benefits. It's not just for when payments are a few days late.

Good to know about the Immediate Need option, but I think I'll be okay if the payment is just a day or two late. My roommate can probably wait a few days for my portion. I'll definitely call the county if I don't see it by the 3rd. Thanks everyone for all the helpful information!

One other thing to check - did you have an overpayment on a previous CalWORKs case? Sometimes if you owed money from before, they'll recover it by reducing your current benefits. That could explain why your grant amount seems so low.

CalFresh is a separate program and wouldn't reduce your CalWORKs amount. However, since you mentioned working part-time (15 hours at minimum wage), that's almost certainly why your grant is reduced. With the current disregard rules, they don't count the first $450 of earned income, but then they subtract 55% of your remaining earned income from your grant amount. At minimum wage (approx. $16.50 in 2025) working 15 hours weekly, you'd earn about $1,072 monthly. Minus the $450 disregard = $622. Then 55% of that is about $342. If the maximum grant for one person is around $450-500 in 2025, subtracting $342 would leave you with approximately $108-158, which aligns with the $120 you received. The separate $20 payment might be a special needs supplement or transportation allowance related to Welfare to Work activities.

IMPORTANT: Even though you're still receiving benefits, DOCUMENT EVERYTHING! Save bank statements, keep a journal of all communication with welfare office, save emails, and document EVERY phone call attempt. Take screenshots of your BenefitsCal account showing status. If they suddenly decide you have an overpayment, you'll need all this evidence to appeal. The system is DESIGNED to trip people up and then demand repayment!!! Protect yourself!!!

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.

jus b careful they might ask u for pay stubs EVERY MONTH i had to summit mine all the time its annoying af. sometimes they wouldn count all my hours right and i had to keep callin to fix it. make sure u keep all ur pay stubs and check they counting the hours right!!!

Thank you everyone for the helpful information! I feel so much better knowing I only need 20 hours and that my current job already covers that. I'm going to gather all my recent paystubs and make copies just to be prepared. I'll definitely ask about the childcare assistance too - that would be a huge help since my mom is getting tired of watching my daughter so often. I really appreciate all of you taking the time to explain everything!

The other thing to consider is that your tax refund will show up in your bank account as a big deposit. If you're getting CalWORKs, they CAN request your bank statements during renewal or during random income verifications. So if they see a big deposit and you haven't explained it's your tax refund, that could cause problems even though the money itself is exempt.

To summarize what everyone is saying (there's a bit of confusion in some responses): 1. Federal tax refunds are EXEMPT income for CalWORKs purposes and exempt as a resource for 12 months after receipt 2. You should still REPORT the refund when you receive it, but clearly mark it as "tax refund" so it's properly coded as exempt 3. Your main focus should be on accurately reporting your self-employment income throughout the year on your SAR 7 forms 4. For your renewal, you'll need to complete a self-employment form (CW 10) detailing your income and business expenses 5. Keep all receipts and documentation - with cash work and no 1099s, good record-keeping is crucial Hope this helps clarify things!

btw when you do finally get ahold of someone make sure to ask about emergency assistance too! if ur rent is more than your income now you might qualify for additional help. my worker never told me about this until i was almost evicted and i found out i could have gotten help months earlier!!!!

UPDATE: I finally got through to someone at the office! I used the Claimyr service that was suggested below and was connected to a real person in about 5 minutes. They looked up my case and found that my worker has been out on medical leave for 3 weeks, and my case wasn't reassigned! They're expediting my change report now and said I should see an adjustment within 3-5 days. They're also sending me info about the Housing Support Program. Thank you everyone for your help!

Ugh the system is soooo frustrating!!!! Why should kids go hungry just because parents make a little too much?? I'm in the same boat - we make "too much" on paper but after rent, utilities, gas and car payment we barely have anything left for food. It's ridiculous that they count gross income instead of what we actually have to spend after taxes and bills!!!

One more thing to consider - if your children receive child support from a non-custodial parent, they COULD potentially qualify as a separate household from you in very specific circumstances. But this is rare and only applies in certain situations where the child support is their only source of income and they truly purchase and prepare food separately (usually only applies to older teens). Also, don't forget to look into WIC if you have children under 5. The income limits are higher than CalFresh, and it provides healthy foods specifically for young children, pregnant and breastfeeding women.