Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 June 2018
Efforts to modernize public assistance via the Social Security Act of 1935 met significant opposition from states. One manifestation of that resistance was state responsible relative laws in the Old Age Assistance program. Responsible relative laws enforced support by adult children as an eligibility requirement; applicants with children deemed able to provide support were either denied aid, or the grant awarded was reduced. These laws are an example of parent dependency policies that sought to enforce or encourage family members, particularly adult children, to support parents in need. States sought to ensure that all financial resources were exhausted before public funds were spent on OAA. Responsible relative laws were an arena of public assistance that remained under state discretion, and many states used them to control costs and contest federal efforts to modernize relief programs and limit state and local authority.
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51. Official Report of the Indiana Welfare Investigation Commission (Indianapolis, 1944).
52. Ibid., 22.
53. Minutes, Indiana Department of Public Welfare, 12 June 1940, 1070; 1 December 1940, 1150–51, Box 1, ISA.
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71. “Old Age Assistance Lien and Recovery Provision,” Public Welfare in Indiana 58, no. 8 (August 1948): 5. South Dakota’s department of public welfare also supported the lien provisions as a deterrent on applications. South Dakota Department of Social Security Annual Report, For the Period July 1, 1939–June 30,1940 (Pierre, 1940), 9.
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84. Public Act 262 of 1947, Local and Public Acts of the Michigan Legislature, 394; Michigan Social Welfare Commission, Fifth Biennial Report, July 1946–June 1948 (Lansing, 1948), 17, 20.
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86. State Letter, 7 May 1941, “Standards for Safeguarding Information Concerning Applicants and Recipients of Public Assistance,” 1, Records of Welfare Organizations and Topics, RG 47.8, BPA, State Letters, Box 1, Folder 1.
87. Ibid., 1–2. Ohio was one state that clashed with federal officials, in part over the use of public assistance lists for political purposes, in the early stages of the Social Security Act. Federal officials provided the governor’s office in Utah with lists of recipients in 1943; they suspected he used them for political purposes but could not prove anything. Utah welfare officials also battled the Church of Latter Day Saints, who sought lists of recipients to ensure that its members were not receiving public aid. Coll, Safety Net, 28–29; “Current Activity Report,” 22 December 1944, 1–2; October 19, 1944, 1–2; 20 July 1944, 4; 5 April 1944, 6; 22 May 1943, 5; Records of Welfare Organizations and Topics, RG 47.8, BPA, Correspondence, Utah, Box 98, Folder 620.62/03, NA-CP.
88. If a recipient requested a fair hearing on a decision on the case, all materials submitted in the hearing were available to the recipient. Letter from Azile Aaron, Public Assistance Representative, to Ralph Fisher, Committee on Old-Age Pensions, California, 26 March 1943; Memo from Azile Aaron to Mary Austin, SSB, 3 April 1943; Memo to Arthur Miller, Regional Attorney from the Office of the General Counsel, 24 April 1943; SSA Records, Records of Welfare Organizations and Topics, BPA, Correspondence, RG 47, California, Box 9 Folder 610, NA-CP.
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107. Letter from Robert Bahannan Jr. to APWA, 21 June 1951, APWA Records, Box 22, Folder 7, SWHA.
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