Memorandum re: HEW Cuts Off Funds for Welfare Program in Alabama

    President 

Hon. Francis E. Rivers 

/\ PRESS RELEASE Director Gaunsed 
egal efense und Jack Greenberg 

Director, Public Relations 

NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. Jesse DeVore, Jr. 
10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 NIGHT NUMBER 212-749-8487 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
January 13, 1967 

MEiiORANDUM 

TO: Working Press 

FROM: Jack Greenberg, Director-Counsel 
NAACP Legal Defense & Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) 

RE: HEW cuts off funds for welfare program in Alabama 

We are happy to learn that HEW has cut off welfare funds from the 
state of Alabama, However, this action, which was too long in coming, 
says nothing about equally serious violations which the NAACP Legal 
Defense & Educational Fund, Inc.** has attacked in courts, and in peti- 
tions filed with Secretary Gardner, concerning offenses in Georgia, 
Arkansas, and Mississippi. 

The pending LDF proceedings are: 

1) A complaint and petition for hearing filed with Secretary 
Gardner asking for a review of the Georgia and Arkansas “substitute 
parent" policies which deny aid to thousands of needy children who are 
without support. 

Under their "substitute parent" policies, Arkansas and Georgia 
deny welfare assistance to families with dependent children on the 
assertion that the families now include a so-called "substitute 
father. 

The term “substitute father" is based on a vague social or sexual 
relationship that a needy mother whose husband is dead, divorced or 
has deserted develops with an unrelated man. 

In Georgia and Arkansas, the “substitute father" is not required 
by law to supply support; the regulations call for no evidence to show 
that he has voluntarily assumed support of the children. He does not 
have any responsibility for the welfare, guardianship, or education of 
the children. He may not be living in the same home. 

Nevertheless, he is defined as a "parent," and the children are 
declared ineligible for Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) 
on the ground that they are not "deprived of parental support." 

2) We have filed with Secretary Gardner a complaint on the behalf 
of an individual welfare recipient in Mississippi alleging that she 
has had her funds reduced because she has sent her children to an inte- 
grated school, 

The case involves a mother who resides in Cleveland, Miss. with 
her six children, all under 21 years of age, She has been receiving 
AIDC assistance for about eight years in amounts varying from $52 to 
$77 per month, 

Last year she registered two of her children in formerly all white 
schools in Cleveland, Miss, Shortly afterward she was visited by her 
social worker who demanded to know why her children were involved in 
school desegregation and asked who would pay for their expenses at the 
white school. 

When she received the next welfare check after her visit from the 
social worker, it had been reduced to $34,00. Enclosed with the last 
welfare check was a notice that all AFDC checks would be further re- 
duced in the future, 

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3) We have filed an extensive report outlining many abuses in 
administration of welfare funds throughout Mississippi. 

4) We have also filed a suit in Federal Court in Georgia attacking 
that state's law that bars children from receiving welfare if their 
mothers have full-time employment regardless of the income they receive. 

Under the policy, a mother with "full-time" employment cannot get 
her income supplemented even though it is below the minimum levels as 
determined by the State Department, A mother with "part-time" employ- 
ment, however, can have her income supplemented even though she earns 
as much or more than the full-time worker, 

Under the “employable mother" rule, the state welfare agency in 
Georgia suspends aid to unemployed mothers because in the opinion of 
the agency the unemployed mother is suitable for employment which is 
readily available. We contend that this suspension of aid is done for 
the purpose of driving Negro labor into the cheapest paying field jobs 
available during the cotton picking seasons. The same field job is not 
held as "suitable" for a white unemployed mother receiving aid. 

We feel that such manipulation of AFDC assistance is clearly in- 
consistent with the purpose of the program, 

The Secretary has taken no action on these complaints although the 
first was filed in February of 1966. 

We find it very hard to understand the delays in initiating inves- 
tigations and in reviewing practices in the administration of welfare, 
To deny an individual benefits to which he is entitled by federal law 
and regulations not only promotes resentment and despair, but it may 
also threaten life, health, and stability, A citizen has a right to 
expect from his government a prompt investigation of a complaint, an 
early reply concerning the disposition of it, and a report of any 
clarification of policy and corrective action which has resulted from 
its 

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* The LDF is a separate, independent organization from the NAACP, The 
names are similar because the LDF was established as a different orgeni 
zation by the NAACP and through the years has gained complete autonomy