McCoog v. Hegstrom
| Decision Date | 16 December 1981 |
| Docket Number | No. 78-789-FR.,78-789-FR. |
| Citation | 528 F. Supp. 575 |
| Parties | Robin McCOOG, et al., Plaintiffs, v. Leo T. HEGSTROM, et al., Defendants. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Oregon |
Amy Veranth, Multnomah County Legal Aid, Kent B. Thurber, Oregon Legal Services Corp., Portland, Or., Jan Perkins, Oregon Legal Services Corp., Klamath Falls, Or., Ken Pollack, Oregon Legal Services Corp., Roseburg, Or., Marilyn Lindgren, Oregon Legal Services Corp., Hillsboro, Or., Hilary Frazier, Oregon Legal Services Corp., Albany, Or., for plaintiffs.
Dave Frohnmayer, Atty. Gen., Karen H. Green, Asst. Atty. Gen., Salem, Or., for defendants.
INTRODUCTION
This is a class action case brought by children who receive Aid to Dependent Children (ADC) assistance. These children live with caretaker relatives who are not included in the ADC grant. The children challenge the state's reduction in the shelter component of their grants on the grounds that the reduction violates federal statutes and regulations and conflicts with various constitutional provisions. The case can be decided on statutory grounds.
In September, 1978, the plaintiffs sought and obtained a temporary restraining order enjoining the defendants from implementing a newly adopted state rule that would result in the reduction of benefits to the children. The trial court (Judge Belloni) denied a permanent injunction and dismissed the case. The plaintiffs appealed, and the Court of Appeals remanded, stating that a fuller development of the facts was necessary. The parties have now filed an extensive Joint Stipulation of Facts.1 The case is now before the court on cross-motions for summary judgment.
The ADC program is a joint federal-state program established under the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. § 601, et seq. It provides monthly financial support for needy children.
The amount of the ADC grant is the sum of five components: shelter, food, clothing, household supplies, and personal incidentals. Oregon has a "flat grant" system, meaning that all families of the same size with no outside income receive the same amount, which is based on a survey of living costs. Outside income is deducted from the grant, usually dollar for dollar. The amount of the shelter allowance, at issue in this case, increases in progressively smaller increments for each additional person in the ADC family.
In October, 1978, the State adopted the non-needy relative rule. That rule reduced benefits to children living with a caretaker relative who was not receiving ADC benefits for his or her own needs; exceptions were made where the caretaker relative was receiving Supplemental Security Income or had been removed from the grant as an administrative sanction. (Stip. 4). The rule only applied to children living with caretaker relatives who were not legally responsible for supporting the children (Stip. 5).
The rule reduced by approximately $100 per month the shelter and food portions of the ADC grant. The reduction was based on the State's determination that the caretaker relative should pay a majority of the shelter costs and some of the common food items. (Stip. 7). The children received only the incremental increase that their addition to an ADC household would represent. The grant was reduced without consideration of individual families' housing situations, irrespective of whether the children moved into the caretaker relative's home or the caretaker relative moved into the children's home. (Stip. 8).
Hardship exceptions were available, but they had to be requested; families were not notified of the availability of these exceptions; and there were no written standards for determining when exceptions would be granted. (Stip. 13, 17, 9).
In determining whether to grant hardship exceptions, there was no consideration of the fact that the caretaker relative had moved into the children's home, or that the caretaker relative was unable or unwilling to support the children or subsidize their shelter expenses. (Stip. 16).
Families affected by the rule could request a hearing, but reduction of the grant would be reversed only upon a showing that the caretaker relative had been incorrectly classified as non-needy, meaning that his or her needs were actually included in the grant. (Stip. 20).
In 1979, the Oregon Legislature enacted Senate Bill 147, which made stepparents legally responsible for the support of their stepchildren. This removed approximately 5,300 cases from the effect of the non-needy relative rule.
On July 1, 1980, the State abolished the non-needy relative rule and adopted the No Adult standard. The No Adult standard is fundamentally the same as the non-needy relative rule. The shelter allowance is calculated basically the same way, except that the number of persons in the caretaker relative's family who are not included in the grant are not considered in determining the amount of the grant. The No Adult standard also differs from the non-needy relative rule in that it applies to previously exempted categories — where the caretaker relative is legally responsible for supporting the children, but is not included in the grant because he or she (a) receives SSI; (b) was removed from the grant as an administrative sanction; (c) voluntarily elected not to receive ADC for himself; (d) is an undocumented citizen of another country; or (e) had secured an exception to the non-needy relative rule. (Stip. 4, 26).
Like the non-needy relative rule, grants were reduced without regard to the individual families' housing situations and without regard to whether the children moved in with the caretaker relative or the caretaker relative moved in with the children. (Stip. 28). Hardship exceptions were available on the same basis as under the non-needy relative rule. Hearings were available, and reversals were made only if there was an adult included in the grant.
On October 1, 1980, the State changed its rule again, but for purposes of this lawsuit, the new standards do not differ significantly from the previous standards; the No Adult standard continues to exist and is applied in the same manner. (Stip. 38).
When a state chooses to participate in the ADC program, it obligates itself to conform to the provisions of the Social Security Act and its implementing regulations. Lewis v. Martin, 397 U.S. 552, 90 S.Ct. 1282, 25 L.Ed.2d 561 (1970); King v. Smith, 392 U.S. 309, 317, 88 S.Ct. 2128, 2133, 20 L.Ed.2d 1118 (1968).
The federal regulations implementing the Social Security Act require that:
"... the money amount of any need item included in the standard will not be prorated or otherwise reduced solely because of the presence in the household of a non-legally responsible individual; and the agency will not assume any contribution from such individual for the support of the assistance unit." (Emphasis added.)
45 C.F.R. § 233.20(a)(2)(viii).
The regulations also provide:
Section 233.90(a) was adopted after the Supreme Court's decision in King v. Smith, 392 U.S. 309, 88 S.Ct. 2128, 20 L.Ed.2d 1118. There, the Court struck down Alabama's "substitute father" regulation, which denied ADC benefits to families where the mother cohabited with an able-bodied man, whether or not that man was legally obligated to support the children. The man was considered by Alabama to be a "parent" under 42 U.S.C. § 606(a), who was not absent from the home.2
Alabama attempted to justify the regulation on the ground that it put families in which there is an informal marital relationship on a par with those in which there is a formal marriage. Id. at 318, 88 S.Ct. at 2133-2134. But the Court held that the term "parent" in § 606(a) was intended by Congress to mean only a person with a legal obligation to support the child. Id. at 327, 88 S.Ct. at 2138. The Social Security Act was intended to provide economic security for needy children; the only kind of "parent" whose presence in the home would provide adequate economic protection for a dependent child is one who is legally obligated to support him. Id. at 332, 88 S.Ct. at 2141.
Id. at 559-60, 90 S.Ct. at 1285-1286.
Section 233.90(a) prohibits a state from reducing the shelter component of the grant because a person who is not included in the grant shares the home with the ADC family. Van Lare...
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McCoog By and Through Ferguson v. Hegstrom
...holding that the Oregon rules violate the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 601-615, and the federal regulations implementing them. 528 F.Supp. 575. We Aid to Dependent Children, 1 established by Title IV of the Social Security Act, 42 U.S.C. §§ 601-615, is a jointly funded federal-state pr......