V.R. v. Ohl

No. 3:98-CV-1176 (S.D. W.Va. Feb. 3, 1999). ; Clearinghouse Number: 52215

Description

Supplemental Security Income Paid to Children May Not Be Counted as Household Income for Determining Eligibility for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

Abstract

The district court preliminarily enjoined West Virginia’s welfare agency from counting Supplemental Security Income (SSI) to children as income available to the family when determining the family’s eligibility for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Plaintiffs are single custodial parents of children who receive SSI benefits for their disabilities. Plaintiffs either applied for or asked about receiving TANF but were told by defendant state welfare agency that they were ineligible because they received disability benefits. Defendant’s policy apparently was to count SSI when it determined whether a household was eligible for TANF. The court concluded that the public interest favored parents because agency was interfering with the statutory goals of SSI and TANF to help sustain low-income persons and to allow them to pursue a reasonable quality of life. The court reasoned that, although Congress did not keep the Aid for Families with Dependent Children statutory provision barring SSI benefits from being counted as income when Congress enacted the federal welfare law creating TANF, the provision’s absence did not mean that Congress gave states the option to count SSI for children’s disability as household income. The court cited the SSI statute and that program’s purposes, which clearly provide that a representative payee (the parent) must use SSI for the beneficiary’s benefit. The court, however, left undecided the issue of what to do when the SSI beneficiary was the parent and not the child.

Additional Information

Attorney Information
Plaintiffs represented by James T. Sugarman, Daniel F. Hedges, Mountain State Justice Inc., 922 Quarrier St., Charleston, WV 25301; 304.344.3144.
Docket Date
1999-02-03 00:00:00+00:00