NH DHHS Financial Assistance: How to Apply for Help

You know New Hampshire DHHS handles public benefits, but the department is large and the website is dense. For a grandparent or relative who just took in a child, here's exactly where to go and what to expect when you apply for financial assistance.

Which Part of DHHS Handles Benefits

The Bureau of Family Assistance (BFA), within the Division of Economic Stability, administers the core financial programs for families and children:

• FANF (Financial Assistance to Needy Families) — monthly cash grants
• SNAP — food benefits
• Children's Medicaid — health coverage
• NH Child Care Scholarship — childcare subsidies

BFA operates through District Offices across New Hampshire's ten counties. Your assigned office depends on where you live. Each office has Family Services Specialists who handle eligibility determinations, process applications, and manage ongoing cases.

Other DHHS divisions handle different parts of the system: DCYF manages child welfare and foster care placements, DPHS runs WIC and the Kinship Navigator Program, and BCSS handles child support.

How to Start an Application

File BFA Form 800 — one form covers FANF, SNAP, Medicaid, and Child Care Scholarship. Four submission options:

Online: nheasy.nh.gov (NH EASY). You can create an account, start the application, save your progress, and return to finish it. This is also where you'll manage your case after approval.

Phone: 1-844-ASK-DHHS (1-844-275-3447). A representative can take your application over the phone. Call volumes can be high — mornings tend to be busier.

Mail or fax: Download Form 800 from the DHHS website or pick one up at a District Office. Complete it and mail or fax it to your local office.

In person: Walk into your District Office. Staff can help you fill out the form. Bring whatever documents you have — identity, residency, child's birth certificate — but don't wait until everything's gathered.

What Happens After You File

1. Application date locked: BFA records your protected application date the moment they receive Form 800 with your name, address, and signature
2. Verification notice: You receive a list of documents needed, with a 10-day window to provide them
3. Interview: BFA schedules a phone or in-person interview within 15 to 19 days
4. Decision: Processing times vary by program — 7 days for expedited SNAP, 30 days for standard SNAP and Child Care Scholarship, 45 days for FANF and Medicaid

Tips for Working with BFA

Tell them you're a relative caregiver at the start. Make sure the caseworker codes your application correctly as a non-needy caretaker relative for child-only benefits. This is what triggers the income exclusion for FANF and Medicaid — if it's coded as a standard household application, your income gets counted and the child may appear ineligible.

Keep records. Write down the name of every person you speak with, the date, and what they told you. If a decision seems wrong, these notes matter for appeals.

Don't give up if the phone wait is long. The NH EASY online portal lets you submit documents, check case status, and complete redeterminations without calling. If you're more comfortable on the phone, try calling later in the afternoon when volumes tend to drop.

Ask about all programs at once. When you file Form 800, check every program box that applies. Processing them together means one interview instead of four.

The complete New Hampshire kinship financial help guide covers every BFA program in detail — eligibility rules, documents needed, and tracking worksheets to keep your applications organized from filing through renewals.

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