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2 - “This Responsible Relative Racket”

Contesting Family Support Obligations

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 October 2023

Susan Stein-Roggenbuck
Affiliation:
Michigan State University
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Summary

The expansion of responsible relative laws, including property lien and recovery laws, generated significant opposition and activism against these provisions. This chapter addresses the key critiques of those provisions, relying in part on the voices of recipients of Old Age Assistance and their families. Opponents contested the administration of these laws and the family norms underscoring support obligations. Advocacy organizations fought these provisions’ enforcement and pushed for their repeal. The organized response to responsible relative laws, as well as protests by individual recipients via fair hearings and court challenges, represent an early version of the welfare rights movement. While the efforts yielded limited success until the 1970s, they did bring attention to administrative practices in public assistance administration and offered a voice to the elderly relying on public benefits and the families required to provide support.

Type
Chapter
Information
Caring for Mom and Dad
Parent Dependency and American Social Policy
, pp. 77 - 119
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2023

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