(ML 2821 Rev. 11-02)
(Manual Renumbered effective 04/01/2004 ML2914)
Any recipient who can identify himself/herself is entitled access to his or her case file. A client's duly authorized representative is entitled to the same access, as is any other person or organization to whom the client authorizes access by means of a written, signed, and dated authorization. Clients, their court appointed representatives, and their legal guardians can have access to the client’s Federal tax return information received through a computer match. Clients are not able to authorize release of Federal tax data (IEVS) in their case files by merely signing a written release.
Care must be taken to be certain that the authorization was in fact made by the client, and precautions must be taken to prevent a person who is authorized to access a file from inadvertently viewing other unrelated identifying information to which they are not entitled. No client should be allowed unsupervised access to their own file and employees of the county social service office should be present during the entire time of the access. The county social service office must provide the client with copies of each file document upon nothing more than a verbal request for copies.
The client is entitled to a prompt, full and courteous explanation of why each piece of information in the file was gathered, and to explanations of the purpose of each form in the file.
If a client objects to the entry in their file of a particular piece of information, and if a supervisor determines that the objectionable entry was, and is, unrelated to determination of eligibility, the entry should be totally and permanently deleted from the record.