Department of Social Services
Family Support Division
PO Box 2320
Jefferson City, Missouri
TO: ALL FAMILY SUPPORT OFFICES
FROM: KIM EVANS, DIRECTOR
SUBJECT: SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SNAP) OPTION TO WAIVE REQUIREMENT TO OFFER OR GRANT FACE-TO-FACE INTERVIEWS
DISCUSSION:
The Food and Nutrition Service (FNS) has approved Missouri’s Statewide SNAP Interview option effective December 28, 2020 through June 30, 2021. This option allows temporary changes to the SNAP in order to help keep Missourians safe and healthy during the COVID-19 health crisis.
Changes to 7 C.F.R. 273.2 (e)(2)(i) are as follows:
- Family Support Division (FSD) is not required to offer or grant a request for a face-to-face interview to any household at application or recertification.
Staff are not required to offer or grant a face-to-face interview to any household that requests to complete their SNAP interview in person for any application. Staff can waive the requirement to conduct a face-to-face interview on all SNAP applications initial, recertification or expedited.
When there is a request for a face-to-face interview, staff should inform the participant that Missouri is currently waiving all face-to-face interviews due to the COVID-19 health crisis. The waiving of the requested interview must be captured in the FAMIS system on the FSINTRVW (FM1B) screen, by entering the COVID19 Waived Interview code pairing type and method.
Note: It is important to make a comment referencing COVID-19 on each case when a face-to-face interview is requested, but is waived with the option.
System changes have been made to the FSINTRVW (FM1B) screen as shown in the screenshots below.
Note: Staff must enter “Y” in the “Do you need to schedule an interview?” field and choose the COVID-19 codes shown below to allow FSD to track waived interview cases for federal reporting requirements. Do not enter N, all requested face-to-face interviews must be waived due to COVID-19.
As shown below, select face-to-face (FTF) in the drop-down menu for “Type of Interview Completed”.
For the “Interview Completion Method” field, enter Face To Face Waived COVID-19 (F2FW).
NECESSARY ACTION:
- Review this memorandum with appropriate staff.
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