Moore

Ruth Moore (appellant) appeals from a judgment denying her petition for a writ of mandate seeking reversal of a decision by the Director of the Department of Social Services, (respondent) denying Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care benefits (AFDC) to appellant on behalf of her granddaughter Alisha.

Alisha was born prematurely. She suffered from low birth weight and tested positive for cocaine when she was 18 days old. She was not discharged from the hospital until January of 1993 when she was two and one-half months old. The county filed a dependency petition pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, alleging that Alisha's mother, Elaine, was an active drug user, that the minor was medically fragile, and the home was not equipped for installation of medical equipment necessary to the infant's survival. On February 2, 1993, the court adjudicated Alisha a dependent of the court, and placed her out of the home in emergency foster care. During the time Alisha was in emergency foster care, she received AFDC benefits.

In August of 1993, Alisha was placed with appellant, who had recovered from medical problems that prevented her from…

Ruth Moore (appellant) appeals from a judgment denying her petition for a writ of mandate seeking reversal of a decision by the Director of the Department of Social Services, (respondent) denying Aid to Families with Dependent Children-Foster Care benefits (AFDC) to appellant on behalf of her granddaughter Alisha.

Facts

Alisha was bom prematurely. She suffered from low birth weight and tested positive for cocaine when she was 18 days old. She was not discharged from the hospital until January of 1993 when she was two and one-half months old. The county filed a dependency petition pursuant to Welfare and Institutions Code section 300, alleging that Alisha’s mother, Elaine, was an active drug user, that the minor was medically fragile, and the home was not equipped for installation of medical equipment necessary to the infant’s survival. On February 2, 1993, the court adjudicated Alisha a dependent of the court, and placed her out of the home in emergency foster care. During the time Alisha was in emergency foster care, she received AFDC benefits.

In August of 1993, Alisha was placed with appellant, who had recovered from medical problems that prevented her from…

I concur in the result. Appellant’s central claim is that a child dependency determination that a mother is drug addicted and unable to provide regular care for her child is, standing alone, sufficient to establish the mother’s physical incapacity for purposes of federal Aid to Families with Dependent Children (AFDC) benefits so as to entitle the foster parent (appellant grandmother) to collect those benefits for the child’s welfare. The claim must be denied since federal regulations require that a demonstration of AFDC parental incapacity “shall be supported by competent medical testimony . . . .” ( 45 C.F.R. § 233.90 (c)(l)(iv) (1995).) Here, no medical testimony of any kind was pursued or presented. Appellant rested her AFDC application upon no more than conclusory statements by social workers from the dependency proceeding that the mother is drug addicted. Accordingly, benefits were properly denied and we need not reach the question of whether the state regulation requesting a physician’s written statement to verify parental incapacity impermissibly narrows the federal regulation by establishing a physician’s statement as the only form of acceptable medical testimony.

I…