About Paris

The capital and largest city of France, in the north-central part of the country on the Seine River. Founded as a fishing village on the Île de la Cité, Paris (then called Lutetia) was captured and fortified by the Romans in 52 B.C. Clovis I made it the capital of his kingdom after A.D. 486, and Hugh Capet established it as the capital of France after his accession to the throne in 987. Through the succeeding centuries, Paris grew rapidly as a commercial, cultural, and industrial center. The city was occupied by the Germans in World War II from June 14, 1940, to August 25, 1944. Population: 2,110,000.

History

In 1993 the Department of Health and Human Service's Administration for Children and Families (ACF) began working with State public assistanceagencies (SPAAs) and other Federal agencies to develop information-sharing projects proven useful in verifying public assistance client circumstances. ACF sought to identify information-sharing opportunities, and to lead and coordinate the activities required to take advantage of these opportunities. As a result, ACF is able to provide SPAAs with information from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) compensation and pension payment records and interstate public assistance benefit payments.

Between 1993 and 1997, ACF provided twenty nine (29) State public assistance agencies with VA compensation and benefit information for their use in verifying public assistance client circumstances when determining public assistance eligibility and benefits. The District of Columbia,Kansas, New York, North Carolina and Tennessee reported actual and projected program (AFDC, Medicaid, Food Stamps, SSI and other Federal and State public assistance programs) savings achieved through State agency use of the VA information. While not providing written reports, the other twenty-four (24) States that received VA information generally indicated that the information proved useful when verifying client circumstances.

In September of 1997, while providing VA information to States, ACF also provided information to sixteen (16) States regarding possible duplicate interstate public assistance payments (AFDC/TANF, Medicaid, Food Stamps, SSI and other Federal and State public assistance programs). States participating in this initiative signed State-to-State agreements for the interstate exchange of information on active cases. The agreements do not cover other situations such as closed cases being investigated for possible overpayments. Sample copies of the VA and Federal match agreements can be found in the PARIS Agreements section of the site.

In May 2002, PARIS received approval for a new match with active and retired Federal civilian employees, and active and retired military.

Official website: www.paris.fr