Blackburn

Michael Blackburn through his guardian Aurelia D. Watson appeals from a judgment denying a writ of mandate. The question presented is whether respondent, the General Manager of the San Francisco Department of Social Services, should be directed to pay retroactive aid to appellant pursuant to a fair hearing decision adopted by the Director of the state Department of Benefit Payments. The trial court, in denying appellant’s petition for the peremptory writ, concluded that respondent was under no such obligation. We reverse for the reasons stated below.

Facts

Michael Blackburn was born in 1958. For eight months during 1974 and 1975 he resided at the Western Institute for human Resources, a treatment center for emotionally disturbed children. The City and County of San Francisco, through its department of social services, paid for the cost of his placement there, using a combination of county general assistance funds and state funds from the aid to families with dependent children/boarding homes and institutions (state AFDC-BHI) program. It is undisputed that in addition to the funding provided for his placement at the Western Institute, Michael was also a recipient of…