Depending on when you had previously partnered with Freedom you could have been under the old rules which allowed channels to monetise through a network much easier. However now, Networks ensure that the channel is in good standing, which can be done via the monetisation policy - as Google adsense will not allow people to monetise videos if they have broken a community or copyright guideline, and they can also prohibit people from using this if their channel has previously been banned.
As for the new rules, yes you would need an active monetisation policy in place before you could join the Freedom Network. This normally take around 24-48 hours to be processed and after it shows on your YouTube dashboard you can then tell Freedom support and they will be able to progress with your application