---
kind: "section"
citation: "45 C.F.R. § 261.12"
title: "45"
number: "261.12"
heading: "What is an individual responsibility plan?"
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/45/261.12"
---

# §261.12. What is an individual responsibility plan?


An individual responsibility plan is a plan developed at State option, in consultation with the individual, on the basis of the assessment made under [§ 261.11](/cfr/45/261.11.md). The plan:

- (a) Should set an employment goal and a plan for moving immediately into private-sector employment;
- (b) **Should describe the obligations of the individual.** These could include going to school, maintaining certain grades, keeping school-aged children in school, immunizing children, going to classes, or doing other things that will help the individual become or remain employed in the private sector;
- (c) Should be designed to move the individual into whatever private-sector employment he or she is capable of handling as quickly as possible and to increase over time the responsibility and the amount of work the individual handles;
- (d) Should describe the services the State will provide the individual to enable the individual to obtain and keep private sector employment, including job counseling services; and
- (e) **May require the individual to undergo appropriate substance abuse treatment.**

## Notes

### Authority

Authority: 42 U.S.C. 601, 602, 607, and 609; Pub. L. 109-171.

### Source

Source: 64 FR 17884, Apr. 12, 1999, unless otherwise noted.