County of Contra Costa v. Social Welfare Board

This is an appeal from a judgment ordering the issuance of a peremptory writ of mandate which would require the Social Welfare Board of the State of California, hereafter referred to as the board, to set aside its decision ordering the respondent County of Contra Costa, hereafter referred to as the county, to reinstate the Aid to Needy Children grant of Eula L. Henderson for the benefit of her child, Cassandra.

Eula applied to the Social Welfare Department of the county for a grant of assistance on behalf of her daughter Cassandra, and a grant was made by the county. About 15 months after the grant, the county terminated aid insofar as Cassandra was concerned on the ground that Eula had failed to identify the father of Cassandra. The district attorney’s office of the county requested that Eula submit to a polygraph examination (commonly called a “lie detector test”) to aid in determining the natural paternity of Cassandra. Eula refused, and appealed the county’s discontinuance of aid to the board. This appeal is provided for by Welfare and Institutions Code section 104.1. Hearings were held before a referee of the board and the referee prepared a proposed decision which was later…