ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, June 1, 1996 TAG: 9606030052
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: LESLIE TAYLOR STAFF WRITER
THREE WOMEN who can't identify their children's fathers have sued to restore their Aid to Families with Dependent Children. This is the new policy's first legal battle.
A Virginia welfare overhaul policy that requires women to identify the fathers of their children or face loss of benefits has bumped up against its first legal challenge.
The Virginia Poverty Law Center filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Harrisonburg this week on behalf of three welfare recipients whose benefits were cut off because they couldn't provide enough identifying information on their children's fathers. The suit was filed against the Virginia Department of Social Services.
Law center attorneys appeared in federal court in Charlottesville on Friday to request a temporary restraining order that would restore the women's Aid to Families with Dependent Children benefits. The state agreed to continue their payments until June 30 - a week after the court is scheduled to consider a motion for a preliminary injunction and class action certification that would keep the state from enforcing the policy.
The three women - one in Christiansburg, another in Smyth County and a third in Winchester - lost their AFDC benefits despite their best efforts to identify the fathers of their children, said Steven Myers, an attorney with the law center. The women were not mentioned in the lawsuit by their true names but by fictitious names.
"As unfortunate as it is, everyone knows there are some women who just don't know," Myers said. "And if they don't know, they can't tell you."
One of the women, the Christiansburg resident, believes the father of her 6-year-old daughter is a man with whom she had a one-night stand, according to the lawsuit. She knows him only as "Mark." She could not provide any more information on him.
The woman was sanctioned for not cooperating with state policy. Her AFDC benefits were terminated in February.
The Smyth County woman doesn't know the name of her daughter's father, the lawsuit alleges. When her daughter was conceived in July 1982, the woman was heavily involved in alcohol and had sexual relations with several men.
She cannot identify any of the men who might be her daughter's father. Her application for AFDC benefits was denied in April.
The woman in Winchester has two children. The first was conceived in 1985, shortly after she moved to Washington, D.C., to begin working as a bank teller. One evening, she met a man who identified himself only as "George." They had intercourse - her second sexual encounter in life - and she became pregnant, according to the lawsuit. She never saw "George" again.
Her second child was conceived during a rape in 1990, according to the lawsuit. Because she never reported the rape to police, the Winchester Department of Social Services determined that it was not a "verified" rape as defined in state policy.
The woman provided all the information she was able to, the lawsuit alleges. But she was notified in December that because she could not provide the names of her children's fathers, her AFDC benefits would be reduced and her AFDC case would be closed in six months.
When the state's new welfare plan became law last July, policies on parental identification toughened. The old policy required AFDC applicants and recipients to cooperate in the collection of child support by providing all available information on the father's identity.
The new policy requires an AFDC applicant or recipient to provide the first and last name of the father or all individuals with whom they have had sexual intercourse who could be the father. Except in cases of verified rape, that information must be provided even if the applicant or recipient has good cause for refusing to cooperate. Failure to provide the required information is interpreted as "noncooperation."
The law center alleges that the new policy violates federal welfare regulations. Those regulations require that AFDC applicants and recipients cooperate in identifying fathers and define cooperate as "attesting to lack of information, under penalty of perjury."
Clarence Carter, commissioner of the state Department of Social Services, said Friday that his department stands firmly behind the policy. Requiring a mother to establish paternity as a condition to receiving benefits "is imperative," he said.
"The new policy does not allow for an individual not to know," he said. "We encourage responsible behavior. Not knowing the father of the child is not responsible behavior.
"We stand behind the rationale that underpins this policy. And that rationale is that the commonwealth has a right and obligation to encourage responsible citizenship. In this policy, with regard to establishing paternity, the commonwealth does just that."
The policy's legal challenge comes as the state embarks on an initiative called the Virginia Fatherhood Campaign.
It was unveiled Friday by Gov. George Allen, who said the campaign fit his philosophy that government cannot solve problems such as poverty, crime and unwed motherhood.
The Allen administration will sponsor a "Fatherhood Forum" in Harrisonburg on June 11 to gather ideas for fostering parental involvement and stable communities.
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