Story of Justice: Angela Requests Her Benefits due to Covid-19

Angela Requests Her Benefits due to Covid-19

Background

Angela* is a single mother with four minor children including a newborn.  Angela lost her job on April 11 due to Covid-19.  To make matters worse, her child support ended at the same time because the father of the children also lost his job due to Covid-19.  Angela applied for SNAP benefits, but she received a denial from DCF stating that she had too much income – Angela had no income.

Assistance

Angela then filed for unemployment assistance in May but received no response, so she came to Coast to Coast Legal Aid for assistance. The Coast to Coast Legal Aid attorney immediately contacted DCF. DCF called Angela the same day and provided her family with the full amount of her food stamp benefits immediately. The attorney then reviewed the Angela’s unemployment file on the internet and determined that the unemployment application had not been completed.  The attorney discussed the steps needed to complete the application with Angela and advised her how to upload her W2 into the application.

Why it Matters

A couple of weeks later eight payments were made to the Angela’s unemployment compensation debit card, however, Angela never received her debit card in the mail and couldn’t access the money.  The attorney provided Angela with the appropriate contact information to make the claim and also advised her how to backdate the payments on her claim to the correct date.  This was accomplished and the card as well as additional money was received.