Iowa Admin. Code r. 441-61.6

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 11, December 11, 2024

Rule 441-61.6 - Provision of services

(1)Priority of services. Services are provided to refugees in the following order of priority, except in certain individual extreme circumstances:

a. Refugees who are receiving cash assistance.

b. Unemployed refugees who are not receiving cash assistance.

c. Employed refugees in need of services to retain employment or to attain economic independence.

d. All newly arriving refugees in the United States who apply for services during the five-year period from their date of arrival.

(2)Limitations on eligibility. Services as described in rule 441-61.5(217) may be provided in the first 60 months of resettlement unless the Office of Refugee Resettlement grants an exception to the 60-month limit. Referral, interpretation, citizenship, and naturalization services may be provided to the extent feasible past 60 months of resettlement for refugees, except that refugees who are receiving employability services, as defined in 441-subrule 61.5(11), as part of an employability plan, as of September 30, 1995, may continue to receive those services through September 30, 1996, or until the services are completed, whichever occurs first, regardless of their length of residence in the United States, pursuant to 45 CFR 400.315(b) as amended to June 7, 2022. In any case, services shall first be provided for those refugees who are in the first two years of resettlement and who are in need of assistance in securing self-sufficiency.

(3)Service requirements.

a. Services provided shall be refugee-specific services which are designed specifically to meet refugee needs, except that vocational or job skills training, on-the-job training, or English language training need not be refugee specific.

b. Services shall be provided, to the maximum extent feasible, in a manner that is culturally and linguistically compatible with a refugee's language and cultural background.

c. Services shall be provided, to the maximum extent feasible, in a manner that includes the use of bilingual or bicultural women on service agency staffs to ensure adequate service access by refugee women.

d. The department shall use its social service grants primarily for employability services designed to enable refugees to obtain jobs within one year of becoming enrolled in services in order to achieve economic self-sufficiency as soon as possible.

e. Social services may continue to be provided after a refugee has entered a job to help the refugee retain employment or move to a better job.

f. Social service grant funds may not be used for long-term training programs such as vocational training that last for more than a year or educational programs that are not intended to lead to employment within a year.

g. In planning and providing services, the bureau shall take into account those services which a resettlement agency is required to provide for a refugee whom it sponsors in order to ensure the provision of seamless, coordinated services to refugees that are not duplicative.

h. In order to avoid interference with refugee employment, English language instruction and vocational training must be provided to the fullest extent feasible outside normal working hours.

i. English language instruction must be provided in a concurrent, rather than sequential, time period with employment or with other employment-related services.

Iowa Admin. Code r. 441-61.6

Amended by IAB November 30, 2022/Volume XLV, Number 11, effective 2/1/2023