Doe v. Shapiro

• Citation: 302 F. Supp. 761
• Decision Date: 04 August 1969
• Docket Number: Civ. No. 13093.
• Court: U.S. District Court — District of Connecticut
• Parties: Mrs. Jane DOE, individually and on behalf of her minor dependent child, Scott, and in behalf of all others similarly situated v. Bernard SHAPIRO, Commissioner of Welfare, State of Connecticut.

302 F. Supp. 761

Mrs. Jane DOE, individually and on behalf of her minor dependent child, Scott, and in behalf of all others similarly situated v. Bernard SHAPIRO, Commissioner of Welfare, State of Connecticut.

Civ. No. 13093.

United States District Court D. Connecticut.

August 4, 1969.

Thomas Jay Solomon, Waterbury Legal Aid & Reference Service, Inc., Waterbury, Conn. (Lee A. Albert, Sylvia A. Law, Nancy Duff Levy, New York City, and Joel Levine, Waterbury, Conn., of counsel), for plaintiffs.

Francis J. Macgregor, Asst. Atty. Gen., Hartford, Conn., for defendant.

Before SMITH, Circuit Judge, and BLUMENFELD and CLARIE, District Judges.

MEMORANDUM OF DECISION

J. JOSEPH SMITH, Circuit Judge:

This is a class action attacking the validity of a regulation of the Connecticut State Welfare Department which provides for the termination of welfare payments to illegitimate children in cases where the mother will not disclose the name of the child's father.¹ The action was brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983 by Mrs. Jane Doe,² individually and on behalf of her infant son Scott, as representatives of that class of persons who are concededly "needy" and "dependent" within the meaning of the Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) program of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 601-610, but who are ineligible for AFDC assistance on account of the challenged regulation.³ The defendant, Bernard Shapiro, is Commissioner of the Connecticut State Welfare Department. In January, 1969, the state welfare authorities terminated AFDC payments to Scott because Mrs. Doe would not divulge the name of Scott's father.

In their complaint plaintiffs sought various kinds of declaratory and injunctive relief, including the retroactive payment of AFDC benefits wrongfully withheld by the state. Because the constitutional questions presented were not insubstantial, and because the complaint sought an injunction restraining the enforcement, operation, and execution of a statewide regulation on the ground of its unconstitutionality, a three-judge court was convened. 28 U.S.C. §§ 2281, 2284. Our jurisdiction is based on 28 U.S.C. §§ 1343(3) and (4).

At the outset we believe that we can narrow the issues somewhat by indicating what this case is not about. Contrary to what plaintiffs say, this is not a case where the state has made invidious distinctions on the basis of legitimacy or illegitimacy of birth. Scott Doe has not been barred from the welfare rolls because of his illegitimacy, but because his mother would not divulge his father's name, and indeed, there are thousands of needy illegitimate children in Connecticut who are presently receiving AFDC payments from the Connecticut State Welfare Department. Any attempt to analogize this case to either Levy v. Louisiana, 391 U.S. 68, 88 S.Ct. 1509, 20 L.Ed.2d 436 (1968), or Glona v. American Guarantee & Liability Insurance Co., 391 U.S. 73, 88 S.Ct. 1515, 20 L.Ed.2d 441 (1968), must therefore fail.

The narrow question presented, then, is whether the state can require the mother of an illegitimate child to divulge the name of the child's father as a condition for AFDC eligibility. Plaintiffs argue that the challenged regulation violates the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment because it arbitrarily creates two classes of needy illegitimate children indistinguishable from each other except for the obstinacy of their mothers. A needy child, it is urged, is no less needy because the state is unable to learn the name of his father, and thus we are asked to conclude that the challenged regulation is "utterly lacking in rational justification." Flemming v. Nestor, 363 U.S. 603, 611, 80 S.Ct. 1367, 4 L.Ed.2d 1435 (1960). The state, in response, insists that it has a valid interest in obtaining reimbursement from financially able fathers, and that such a procedure is specifically sanctioned by 42 U.S.C. § 602(a) (17) (A) (i).

Plaintiffs next argue that compliance with the challenged regulation would create a serious self-incrimination dilemma for the mother, since she could reasonably fear that such information might provide a basis for a criminal prosecution for either fornication, lascivious carriage, or possibly adultery.⁴ At the very least it is urged that the name of the father would furnish a "link in a chain of facts" leading to a criminal prosecution of the mother. Hoffman v. United States, 341 U.S. 479, 488, 71 S.Ct. 814, 819, 95 L.Ed. 1118 (1950). To show that the risk of prosecution is not altogether fanciful, compare Poe v. Ullman, 367 U.S. 497, 81 S.Ct. 1752, 6 L.Ed.2d 989 (1961), plaintiffs point to State v. Plummer, 5 Conn.Cir. 35, 241 A.2d 198 (1967), where a prosecution for lascivious carriage was brought on the basis of information provided by the state welfare authorities. The defendant, in reply, answers that a welfare mother in such a situation is afforded complete immunity under Conn. Gen.Stat. § 52-435b, which provides in pertinent part that "the mother of any child for whom adjudication of paternity is sought in paternity proceedings shall not * * * be prosecuted for any criminal act about which she testifies in connection with such proceedings."

While Conn.Gen.Stat. § 52-435b unquestionably gives immunity to statements made in the paternity proceeding itself, there is some question as to whether its immunity extends to involuntary statements made out of court prior to the paternity proceeding. The scope of the immunity statute is important, of course, since under the rule laid down in Murphy v. Waterfront Commission, 378 U.S. 52, 78-79, 84 S.Ct. 1594, 12 L.Ed.2d 678 (1964), an individual may not be compelled to give inculpatory information unless "the compelled testimony and its fruits" cannot be used in any criminal prosecution against him. The state suggests that the words "in connection with such proceedings" are susceptible of an interpretation which would afford full immunity, and further suggests that out-of-court statements made prior to the paternity proceeding would be privileged under Conn.Gen.Stat. § 17-83(b), which provides:

"No person shall, except for purposes directly connected with the administration of this chapter and in accordance with the regulations of the commissioner, solicit, disclose, receive or make use of, or authorize, knowingly permit, participate in or acquiesce in the use of, any list of the names of, or any information concerning, persons applying for or receiving assistance under this chapter, directly or indirectly derived from the records, papers, files or communications of the state or its subdivisions or agencies, or acquired in the course of the performance of official duties."

This statute, the state tells us, should be construed in light of the congressional mandate that states participating in the AFDC program must "provide safeguards which restrict the use or disclosure of information concerning applicants and recipients to purposes directly connected with the administration of aid to families with dependent children." 42 U.S.C. § 602(a) (9). Cf. In re Cager, 251 Md. 473, 248 A.2d 384 (1968).⁵

In addition to attacking the challenged regulation on constitutional grounds, plaintiffs insist that the regulation is fatally inconsistent with the statutory requirement that "aid shall be promptly furnished to all eligible individuals." 42 U.S.C. § 602(a) (10). They urge that the basic purpose of the AFDC program is to provide financial assistance to needy children who are deprived of the support and care of one of their parents, and that the only eligibility requirements imposed by Congress are that the child be "needy" and "dependent." Plaintiffs argue that Connecticut has created an additional eligibility requirement by conditioning the availability of AFDC assistance on the mother's willingness to divulge the name of the father, and contend that such an eligibility requirement is as repugnant to the AFDC program as the "substitute father" regulation struck down in King v. Smith, 392 U.S. 309, 88 S.Ct. 2128, 20 L. Ed.2d 1118 (1968).

Although the state argues with considerable force that the Social Security Act requires it to take affirmative steps to ascertain paternity in the case of illegitimate children receiving AFDC assistance, we do not think that 42 U.S.C. § 602(a) (17) (A) (i) was ever intended to allow a state to disqualify an otherwise eligible child on the basis of its mother's refusal to name the father, and we do not think that a close reading of that provision will support the interpretation urged by the state. We hold, therefore, that the challenged regulation is invalid on the ground that it imposes an additional condition of eligibility not required by the Social Security Act. Since we hold the challenged regulation invalid on statutory grounds, we do not reach the constitutional isues raised by plaintiffs. See King v. Smith, supra; Solman v. Shapiro, 300 F.Supp. 409 (D. Conn.1969).

Under the Social Security Act, a child is eligible for and entitled to AFDC assistance if he is both "needy" and "dependent." A child is "needy" if he "does not have the income and resources sufficient to assure economic security" when measured against standards of need established by the individual states. HEW, Handbook of Public Assistance, Part IV, § 3120. A child is "dependent" if a parent is continually absent from the home. 42 U.S.C. § 606(a).⁶ These are the only two eligibility requirements which Congress has imposed, and there can be no doubt that Scott Doe satisfies both. He is without any means of support and is hence "needy." He is "dependent" because his father has been continually absent from the home.

An adjudication of paternity establishes only that there is a legal duty of support; it does not necessarily establish that support will be forthcoming from the absent but now legally liable father. Since the child would still remain eligible for AFDC assistance if the legally liable father refused or...