CalWORKS recipients losing due to parent payments
Marisa Lagos, Chronicle Staff Writer
San Francisco Chronicle January 3, 2012 04:00 AM
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Photo by Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press
Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg wants a remedy.
California's CalWORKS welfare program is meant to help the state's neediest families. The cash assistance, usually a few hundred dollars a month, is available only to people with children who have trouble meeting basic needs such as housing, food, clothing and medical care.
One of those people is Fresno County resident Clarence Ayers, who receives $334 each month to help raise his 14-year-old great-granddaughter, Irene. So Ayers was shocked when officials informed him in July that they would be cutting Irene's monthly stipend to make up for nearly $3,000 CalWORKS mistakenly paid her mother more than a decade prior, some of it before Irene was born.
In November, a public-interest law firm sued the state Department of Social Services in Alameda County Superior Court on behalf of Irene and another CalWORKS recipient, charging that the practice of going after children for welfare money mistakenly overpaid to their parents in years past violates California law.
They are part of a growing chorus of critics, including state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who said he will pursue legislation to reverse the practice if the state won't do it on its own.
"It needs to be fixed, and it needs to be fixed right away," said Steinberg, who sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown on Dec. 2 asking him to immediately order the department to "cease these egregious and unfair practices."
That reversal, if it takes place, would be a huge relief to both Ayers and the other plaintiff in the suit, a 19-year-old Riverside County college student whose mother was mistakenly paid $766 in 2008 for her brother. Now, Jamie Hartley - who is putting herself through school - is being threatened with having her wages and tax refund seized by the state.
Ayers, who is not in touch with Irene's mother, said Fresno County officials have never been able to explain to him why the debt is owed, or to exactly whom the money was originally paid: At the time of the overpayments, Irene's mother was a minor herself.
"I am asking why they are doing this to a child, victimizing a child - all the laws I have ever seen are to protect children, and I paid taxes for that. I paid taxes for 40, 50 years," he said. "They are charging (Irene) with embezzlement before she is born. If that's not wrong, I don't know what is."
Patti Prunhuber, a lawyer with Oakland's Public Interest Law Project that is leading the case, said it's not clear exactly how many children are being asked to come up with cash mistakenly paid to parents or guardians in the past. But her group began receiving more and more reports of this happening over the past year as counties - which administer CalWORKS - have converted to newer computer systems that have caused old payment records to resurface. Prunhuber said the counties and state wouldn't be able to collect most of this money in court, as the statute of limitations for civil or criminal cases has long since passed.
One of those people is Fresno County resident Clarence Ayers, who receives $334 each month to help raise his 14-year-old great-granddaughter, Irene. So Ayers was shocked when officials informed him in July that they would be cutting Irene's monthly stipend to make up for nearly $3,000 CalWORKS mistakenly paid her mother more than a decade prior, some of it before Irene was born.
In November, a public-interest law firm sued the state Department of Social Services in Alameda County Superior Court on behalf of Irene and another CalWORKS recipient, charging that the practice of going after children for welfare money mistakenly overpaid to their parents in years past violates California law.
They are part of a growing chorus of critics, including state Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, D-Sacramento, who said he will pursue legislation to reverse the practice if the state won't do it on its own.
"It needs to be fixed, and it needs to be fixed right away," said Steinberg, who sent a letter to Gov. Jerry Brown on Dec. 2 asking him to immediately order the department to "cease these egregious and unfair practices."
Problem acknowledged
Steinberg's involvement may have helped: In a Dec. 12 letter back to the senator on behalf of Brown, the state's secretary of Health and Human Services, Diana Dooley, wrote that she and social services director Will Lightbourne are "committed to ... ending the collections from adult children who should not be liable for the debts of their parents."That reversal, if it takes place, would be a huge relief to both Ayers and the other plaintiff in the suit, a 19-year-old Riverside County college student whose mother was mistakenly paid $766 in 2008 for her brother. Now, Jamie Hartley - who is putting herself through school - is being threatened with having her wages and tax refund seized by the state.
Ayers, who is not in touch with Irene's mother, said Fresno County officials have never been able to explain to him why the debt is owed, or to exactly whom the money was originally paid: At the time of the overpayments, Irene's mother was a minor herself.
Great-granddaughter
But 16 years later, Ayers, who did transportation work on movie sets until his retirement in 1998, is in his 70s and living on a fixed income while raising his great-granddaughter. He compared the practice of going after minors to putting a child in prison for their parents' crimes."I am asking why they are doing this to a child, victimizing a child - all the laws I have ever seen are to protect children, and I paid taxes for that. I paid taxes for 40, 50 years," he said. "They are charging (Irene) with embezzlement before she is born. If that's not wrong, I don't know what is."
Patti Prunhuber, a lawyer with Oakland's Public Interest Law Project that is leading the case, said it's not clear exactly how many children are being asked to come up with cash mistakenly paid to parents or guardians in the past. But her group began receiving more and more reports of this happening over the past year as counties - which administer CalWORKS - have converted to newer computer systems that have caused old payment records to resurface. Prunhuber said the counties and state wouldn't be able to collect most of this money in court, as the statute of limitations for civil or criminal cases has long since passed.
State must collect
And Prunhuber said advocates have no problem with the state collecting money that was overpaid - so long as they are going after the person who received the money. Steinberg agrees."A kid is a kid is a kid, and whatever their parent may be responsible for ... the kid should never be punished," he said. "This is an example where an interpretation of regulation has government doing the exact opposite of what it should be doing, which is protecting kids. "
That regulation is a portion of the law which authorizes the Department of Social Services and county welfare departments that administer CalWORKS to collect overpayments from any member of an "assistance unit." An assistance unit is the group of people authorized to receive CalWORKS aid - it is usually made up of parents and their children, but can also include guardians, such as Ayers, or foster parents.
Department officials have asserted in the past that they are legally bound to pursue children for CalWORKS overpayments. Prunhuber disagrees, saying there is no indication the Legislature intended children to be legally responsible for debts of their parents.
"What they have told us is that it's wrong and they agree it needs to be changed but that they aren't sure whether they can do so without a change in statute," he said, adding that if the administration cannot change the practice on its own, "we will introduce legislation the first week (of January) and seek to expedite it."
Any relief would make a huge difference to his family, Ayers said - he and Prunhuber are worried that if nothing changes, Irene will become an adult in four years saddled with debt.
"She is growing into a young lady ... thinking about what she wants to be," he said. "Her brain is developing into something I want to keep going because one day she might be able to help somebody, and I will not destroy that. That's what they are trying to do."
Department officials have asserted in the past that they are legally bound to pursue children for CalWORKS overpayments. Prunhuber disagrees, saying there is no indication the Legislature intended children to be legally responsible for debts of their parents.
Brown sympathetic
Steinberg, however, said Brown's administration is "sympathetic" to the problem. In the letter to Steinberg, Dooley wrote that state officials are "well aware of the struggle of Californians in today's economy, especially young people striving to educate themselves and work toward self-sufficiency." She pledged to work with the senator to "make changes to law that may be necessary.""What they have told us is that it's wrong and they agree it needs to be changed but that they aren't sure whether they can do so without a change in statute," he said, adding that if the administration cannot change the practice on its own, "we will introduce legislation the first week (of January) and seek to expedite it."
Any relief would make a huge difference to his family, Ayers said - he and Prunhuber are worried that if nothing changes, Irene will become an adult in four years saddled with debt.
"She is growing into a young lady ... thinking about what she wants to be," he said. "Her brain is developing into something I want to keep going because one day she might be able to help somebody, and I will not destroy that. That's what they are trying to do."
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