Will CalWORKs make my kids' father pay child support even if he's living with us?

Yes, they most likely will require child support cooperation unless you qualify for an exception. When you apply for CalWORKs, you're automatically required to cooperate with child support enforcement (it's called the LCSA - Local Child Support Agency). This means you have to provide information about the father and they'll open a child support case even if you're living together. It's one of the requirements for getting Cash Aid unfortunately.

theres a thing called good cause exemption. tell them ur afraid of him or somethin lol. thats wat i did with my ex cause i didnt want no drama and they let me get cash aid without child support stuff. just gotta fill out a form

You could try applying as a family unit instead of just for yourself and the kids. If you include him on your CalWORKs application as part of your household (like you did with CalFresh), they would calculate benefits based on all of your income combined. This is different than applying as a single parent household where they'd pursue child support. Worth asking about this option specifically when you apply.

This is an important question that comes up often. For CalWORKs, if the father of your children lives with you and you include him in your application as part of your assistance unit (AU), then child support enforcement would not be pursued against him. However, this means: 1. His income will count toward the family's total income 2. He would have to meet Welfare to Work requirements unless exempt 3. His resources (like savings, vehicles, etc.) would count toward resource limits If his income is too high, you might not qualify for CalWORKs as a family. But if you apply without including him, then yes, they would pursue child support even if you live together - unless you have an approved good cause exemption.

For Welfare to Work requirements, all non-exempt adults in the assistance unit typically need to participate in work activities for 30-35 hours per week (depending on family circumstances). These activities can include: - Employment - Job search - Job training programs - Education related to employment - Community service Since he's already working part-time, those hours would count toward his WTW requirement, and he'd just need to make up the difference with other approved activities. There are some exemptions, like if someone is disabled, caring for a young child under 24 months, or has other qualifying circumstances.

The child support thing with CalWORKs is SO FRUSTRATING!! I was in this EXACT situation last year. Me and my kids' dad lived together but weren't married, and I needed Cash Aid temporarily when he got laid off. I didn't include him on my application (big mistake) and they automatically referred me to child support services! It created this whole MESS where they wanted to collect from him even though we were LITERALLY LIVING TOGETHER and he was already supporting us as much as he could!!! The county workers gave me different information every time I called - some said I could cancel it, others said I couldn't. SUCH a headache.

Yeah, I eventually got it fixed but it took FOREVER. I had to go in person multiple times. What finally worked was submitting proof we lived together (lease with both our names, utility bills, etc.) and having him come with me to sign paperwork to be added to my case. They recalculated our benefits based on his income. The amount went down but at least they stopped the child support nonsense. My advice is to be SUPER clear from the beginning about your living situation.

I've seen this issue come up a lot when people try calling the county offices. They rarely give clear answers about these situations, and you can waste hours on hold just to get disconnected. After my frustrating experience trying to resolve a similar issue, I found this service called Claimyr (claimyr.com) that got me through to a real CalWORKs worker in about 10 minutes instead of waiting for hours. They have a video showing how it works here: https://youtu.be/jzISHxCPLwE I'd recommend using something like this to get a definitive answer about your specific situation instead of guessing. The worker I spoke with explained exactly how to apply as a family unit and avoid the child support issue completely.

u should just say ur not together and hes just ur roomate lol. thats what my friend did and she got cash aid for her and her kid and her bf was still living there but didnt have to pay child support.

ok but am i the only one confused why CalWORKs and CalFresh have different rules for households?? like why does one program care if ur married and the other doesn't?? make it make sense california 🙄

Thank you all for the advice! I've decided to apply with him included in our household since we're genuinely living together as a family. Going to gather our documents and apply online through BenefitsCal. Hopefully his part-time work plus whatever activities they assign won't be too much while also caring for our kids. I'll update after our interview to let everyone know how it goes!