County Welfare Agency for Medicaid in New Jersey: Where to Apply

Your parent needs long-term care, and someone at the hospital mentioned filing a Medicaid application with "the county." They didn't specify which office, what documents you need, or how the county welfare agency connects to the clinical screening that already happened in the hospital. New Jersey processes Medicaid eligibility determinations at the county level, which means the specific office you contact depends on where your parent lives — and getting the paperwork to the right place on time directly affects whether your parent can stay in their nursing home bed while the application is reviewed.

What the County Welfare Agency Does

New Jersey has 21 County Welfare Agencies (also called County Boards of Social Services), one for each county. These offices process the financial eligibility determination for Medicaid long-term care applications under the NJ FamilyCare / MLTSS program.

The county welfare agency handles the Financial Gate of the two-gate MLTSS eligibility process. (The other gate — the Clinical Gate — is handled separately by the Division of Aging Services through the Pre-Admission Survey.) The CWA reviews your parent's income, liquid assets, property holdings, and any transfers of wealth going back 60 months from the application date.

The CWA caseworker determines whether your parent meets the financial requirements: gross monthly income under $2,982, countable assets under $2,000 for a single applicant, and no disqualifying asset transfers during the look-back period. If your parent's income exceeds the cap, the caseworker will need documentation showing that a Qualified Income Trust has been established and funded.

How to Find Your County's Office

The application must go to the CWA in the county where your parent resides. If your parent is in a nursing home in a different county than their pre-admission home address, use the county of the pre-admission residence — that is the county of legal residence for Medicaid purposes.

The state maintains a directory of all County Boards of Social Services at nj.gov/humanservices/dfd/counties. You can also call the statewide NJ FamilyCare hotline at 1-800-701-0710 for routing.

For the most populated counties, here are the main offices:

• Bergen: 218 Route 17 North, Rochelle Park — (201) 368-4200
• Essex: 18 Rector Street, 9th Floor, Newark — (973) 733-3000
• Hudson: 257 Cornelison Avenue, Jersey City — (201) 420-3000
• Middlesex: 181 How Lane, New Brunswick — (732) 745-3500
• Monmouth: 3000 Kozloski Road, Freehold — (732) 431-6000
• Ocean: 1027 Hooper Avenue, Toms River — (732) 349-1500
• Passaic: 80 Hamilton Street, Paterson — (973) 881-0100
• Union: 342 Westminster Avenue, Elizabeth — (908) 965-2700

What Documents the CWA Needs

The Medicaid long-term care application is document-heavy. The CWA caseworker will request most or all of the following:

• Government-issued photo ID and proof of U.S. citizenship or qualifying immigration status
• Social Security card and proof of all income sources (Social Security statements, pension letters, IRA/annuity distribution statements)
• Five years of bank statements for every account the applicant has had — checking, savings, money market, CDs
• Five years of brokerage and investment account statements
• Most recent property tax bill and homeowner's insurance declaration page
• Deed to any real property owned
• Life insurance policies (face value and cash surrender value)
• Vehicle registration and estimated value
• Burial/funeral contracts (irrevocable prepaid funeral contracts are exempt from the asset count)
• If married: all of the above for the community spouse as well
• If a Qualified Income Trust exists: the trust document and bank statements showing monthly deposits

Missing a single requested document will delay the application. CWA caseworkers issue a formal document request letter with a deadline; failure to respond can result in denial for "failure to cooperate."

The Connection to Hospital Discharge

When your parent is being discharged from a New Jersey hospital to a nursing home, the hospital's clinical screening (EARC or onsite OCCO assessment) and the county's financial review run on parallel tracks. The hospital handles the clinical gate; you or your representative handles the financial application at the CWA.

For a parent who qualifies for the hospital EARC pathway, the EARC provides a 90-day clinical authorization but is valid for nursing-facility admission for only 10 calendar days after determination. If the SNF admission does not occur within 10 days, a new screening is required. The CWA financial review runs on a separate track, so file the application promptly and confirm timing with the hospital screener and receiving facility.

During the period between filing and approval — the "Medicaid pending" period — your parent is legally protected from eviction by the nursing home. Under N.J.A.C. 8:39-4.1(a), the facility cannot discharge a Medicaid-pending resident for non-payment as long as the application is actively being processed and the resident is paying their estimated Patient Responsibility to the facility.

ADRC: The Other County-Level Resource

Separate from the CWA, each county operates an Aging and Disability Resource Connection. The ADRC provides options counseling, connects families to community-based services, and coordinates the clinical Pre-Admission Survey for community-dwelling applicants (hospital patients get their screening through the hospital's EARC process).

If your parent is coming home rather than going to a nursing home and needs help arranging home care, Meals on Wheels, adult day programs, or transportation, the county ADRC is the first call: 1-877-222-3737 (statewide), or contact your county ADRC directly through the state directory at nj.gov/humanservices/doas/assistance/county-offices.

The New Jersey Hospital-to-Home Transition Planner includes a county-by-county directory with CWA and ADRC contact information, a complete document checklist for the Medicaid MLTSS application, and a timeline tracker showing how the clinical and financial gates run in parallel.

See more New Jersey guides →