Indiana Dept. of Public Welfare v. Hupp
| Decision Date | 29 December 1992 |
| Docket Number | No. 60A01-9206-CV-174,60A01-9206-CV-174 |
| Citation | 605 N.E.2d 768 |
| Parties | INDIANA DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WELFARE and Suzanne L. Magnant, In Her Official Capacity as Administrator of the Indiana Department of Public Welfare, Appellant-Respondents, v. Doris HUPP and Melissa Branaman, Individually and on behalf of all other persons similarly situated, and Judy Wheat, Appellee-Petitioners. |
| Court | Indiana Appellate Court |
Linley E. Pearson, Atty. Gen., Wendy Stone Messer, Deputy Atty. Gen., Indianapolis, for appellant-respondents.
Thomas M Frohman, Jamie Andree, Legal Services Organization of Indiana, Inc., Bloomington, for appellee-petitioners.
Today we are presented with the question of whether the policy of terminating a household's AFDC benefits for a child who has been removed from his or her home under a court-issued probable cause detention order but before the child has been adjudicated a Child in Need of Services (CHINS) violates federal law. 1
Alleging the administrative policy of respondent-appellant Division of Family and Children (the Division) 2 was contrary to federal law, 3 petitioner-appellees Doris Hupp and Judy Wheat (the parents) sought injunctive and declaratory relief pursuant to 42 U.S.C. Sec. 1983. The parents complained the Division improperly terminated their AFDC eligibility after their children were removed from their homes but before the children had been adjudicated CHINS. Prior to an adjudication, contended the parents, their children's absences were temporary, and temporary absences did not affect AFDC eligibility. The parents also stressed that despite their children's absences, they remained financially responsible for maintaining homes to which their children could return and, if they had visitation rights, they were responsible for the expenses of those visits. These responsibilities, the parents argued, were sufficient to maintain AFDC eligibility while their children were detained under CHINS probable cause detention orders.
The Owen Circuit Court certified the parents' actions as a state-wide class action and added petitioner-appellee Melissa Branaman as an intervening class representative. After the parties filed cross-motions for summary judgment, the court entered judgment in the parents' favor and enjoined the Division from reducing or terminating a household's AFDC benefits based solely on a CHINS probable cause detention order. The Division was also required to identify all members of the class and notify them of the court's decision. The court concluded the Division may not reduce or terminate AFDC benefits until a child's placement outside of the home is continued following a CHINS adjudication and entry of a dispositional order. The Division now appeals the injunction and order.
For the reasons we discuss below, we disagree with the parties' reliance on Indiana's CHINS legislation to determine when AFDC eligibility ceases. A household's AFDC eligibility is contingent on the parent or relative caretaker exercising responsibility for the child's care and control, but that responsibility is not a factor in a CHINS adjudication. Because the CHINS and AFDC requirements do not parallel each other, using a CHINS proceeding to determine AFDC eligibility is inappropriate. With this in mind, we now address the reduction or termination of AFDC benefits in this case.
The parties stipulated to the trial court the facts relevant to the reduction or termination of their AFDC benefits. In each case the change in benefits was preceded by a CHINS probable cause detention order. We are not told what events led to the allegations and detentions and those allegations are not challenged here. The facts, as stipulated, follow.
Doris Hupp lived in Monroe County, Indiana, with her six minor children. She received $522.00 in AFDC benefits for herself and her children.
On June 30, 1989, the Monroe County Division removed all six children from Hupp's home under allegations of neglect and abuse. That same day, the Monroe Circuit Court, Juvenile Division, conducted a detention hearing and found there was probable cause to believe the children were CHINS. The court authorized the children's continued detention in foster care.
On July 5, 1989, Hupp's AFDC caseworker at the Division proposed discontinuing Hupp's AFDC grant because of the removal of her children under the CHINS probable cause detention order. Hupp was notified her AFDC and Medicaid would be discontinued effective August 1, 1989, and repayment would be required for the benefits she had received in July 1989. Hupp appealed the proposed action within 10 days of receiving notice, which enabled her to continue receiving benefits in the amount of $522.00 per month pending the disposition of her appeal.
On July 27, 1989, the juvenile court held an additional detention hearing and returned Hupp's two oldest children to her. The court also ordered unsupervised visitation between Hupp, her children, and the children's father. With the return of two children, the Division amended its proposed action from complete discontinuation of Hupp's AFDC to a reduction of her AFDC to $288.00 per month effective July 1, 1989.
Hupp again appealed the Division's proposed reduction of benefits, but on August 15, 1989, a Division administrative law judge (ALJ) upheld the Division's decision. Hupp appealed that decision which enabled her to receive the entire $522.00 in benefits through September 1989. As of August 15, 1989, Hupp was paying $250.00 per month to maintain her residence in Owen County, and her four youngest children visited her there three days a week. Hupp paid for meals and items incidental to those visits. In addition to working with her caseworker, she attended meetings at the Salvation Army, enrolled her children in school, obtained a doctor for her children, and purchased clothes for them.
On August 24, 1989, Hupp was reunited with her youngest child. By October 13, 1989, however, Hupp had been incarcerated and the juvenile court again removed Hupp's children from her home. By order of the juvenile court, two children were returned to Hupp's home on December 29, 1989, another returned on January 12, 1990, and Hupp gave birth to a seventh child on February 17, 1990. Three days later, on February 20, 1990, the Division dismissed the CHINS petition and the remaining three children went home.
Hupp received AFDC benefits in the amount of $522.00 per month through September 1989. After losing her appeals challenging the Division's reductions, Hupp became liable for an overpayment of $234.00 in benefits in both July and August, and $176.00 in September. Hupp received a monthly payment of $346.00 from October through February, but she was eventually found liable for an overpayment of the full $346.00 paid in November and December and for $58 paid in January. Her benefits increased to $405.00 in March 1990, and, with the homecoming of all of her children, Hupp's AFDC benefits increased to $580.00 in April 1990.
Judy Wheat resided in French Lick, Indiana, with her six minor children. Wheat received $522.00 in AFDC benefits.
On July 12, 1989, the Orange County Division took Wheat's children into custody pursuant to the an order issued by the On July 19, 1989, Wheat's caseworker proposed Wheat's AFDC benefits be discontinued due to the removal of Wheat's children pursuant to the court's probable cause detention order. The reduction became effective August 1, 1989. Wheat continued to live in the same house from which her children had been removed, and she was responsible for only $14 a month of her federally subsidized rent. Wheat had no visitation with her children after they were removed, but she cooperated with the Division and worked toward getting her children returned home.
Orange Circuit Court, Juvenile Division. As required by IND.CODE 31-6-4-6(e), the court held a detention hearing at which time it found probable cause to believe the children were CHINS and ordered the children's continued detention. The children were placed at the Knightstown Institution, a shelter care facility. The facts upon which the court based its probable cause detention order are not in the record before us.
On October 6, 1989, Wheat admitted her children were CHINS; the juvenile court, however, was prohibited from making such a finding because the children's father had not made a similar admission. Four of Wheat's children returned home on October 17, 1989, and the other two children returned on December 17, 1989. At the disposition hearing conducted on March 12, 1990, the court found the children were CHINS.
Wheat received no AFDC in August, September, or October 1989. She received AFDC for herself and four children in November and December 1989. With all six children finally home, Wheat was again eligible to receive $522.00 in AFDC benefits beginning in January 1990.
Melissa Branaman resided in Jackson County, Indiana, with her two minor children. Branaman received $288.00 per month in AFDC benefits for herself and her two children.
On June 20, 1989, the Jackson County Division removed the children from Branaman's home pursuant to a detention order issued by the Jackson Circuit Court. The court scheduled a fact-finding hearing for early August to determine whether the children were CHINS. That hearing was never held. Because of the CHINS probable cause detention order, Branaman's caseworker proposed discontinuing Branaman's AFDC grant effective July 1, 1990. Filing a timely appeal to the proposed elimination of her benefits, Branaman continued to receive $288.00 per month pending the outcome of her appeal.
On September 25, 1990, an ALJ conducted a hearing to determine Branaman's benefits entitlement. As of that date, the juvenile court had not held a fact-finding hearing regarding the CHINS allegations. Branaman continued to live in the home from...
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