Moore v. Anderson (45 Cal. App. 4th 1170, 1996)

Opinion

STEIN, J.

Ruth Moore (appellant) appeals from a judgment denying her petition for a writ of mandate seeking reversal of a decision by the Director of the Department of Social Services, (respondent) denying Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care benefits (AFDC) to appellant on behalf of her granddaughter Alisha.

Facts

Alisha was bom prematurely. She suffered from low birth weight and tested positive for cocaine when she was 18 days old. She was not discharged from the hospital until January of 1993 when she was two and one-half months old. The county filed a dependency petition pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, alleging that Alisha’s mother, Elaine, was an active drug user, that the minor was medically fragile, and the home was not equipped for installation of medical equipment necessary to the infant’s survival. On February 2, 1993, the court adjudicated Alisha a dependent of the court, and placed her out of the home in emergency foster care. During the time Alisha was in emergency foster care, she received AFDC benefits.

In August of 1993, Alisha was placed with appellant, who had recovered from medical problems that prevented her from providing care for Alisha earlier. Ruth Moore applied for AFDC benefits on behalf of Alisha. Alisha was now ineligible for state AFDC foster care benefits because she was placed in the home of a relative. In order to qualify for federal AFDC benefits, it was necessary to meet the federal “linkage” requirement, which in this case essentially required appellant to establish that Alisha would have been eligible under the AFDC family group/unemployed program, had she been living in her parents’ home, in the month she was removed. (42 U.S.C. §§ 602; 606(a)(1); 672 (a)(4) (A), (B)(i).) The county notified appellant that it had determined that Alisha was ineligible for benefits, because, although Alisha’s mother received AFDC family group/unemployed benefits in the month the dependency petition was filed, the county had ascertained that Alisha’s father was living with her mother at that time, and had been living with Alisha’s mother for the past eight years. The father reported no income, and the county could locate no record of employment. The county concluded that Alisha was ineligible on the basis of parental absence, and that there was also no “linkage” based on unemployment in the absence of some evidence that the father or mother had some connection with the work force.

Appellant sought an administrative fair hearing, in which she contended that Alisha should be found eligible on the basis of parental incapacity, based on the findings in the juvenile court proceeding that the mother was a substance abuser who admitted to current use, and the other findings pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, subdivision (b) that, “[t]he minor has suffered, or there is a substantial risk that the minor will suffer, serious physical harm or illness, ... by the inability of the parent ... to provide regular care for the minor due to the parent’s . . . mental illness, developmental disability, or substance abuse.” The administrative law judge denied the claim, stating the following reasons: “The child is not state eligible, because she is living with a relative. She is not federally eligible because although her mother appears to have been receiving AFDC in the month in which the petition was filed, her mother was ineligible, since there was no basis of deprivation. [