1 - Resisting a Right to Relief

Summary

This chapter argues that responsible relative laws were one strategy states employed to contest federal efforts to modernize relief programs and limit state and local authority. Fiscal control and home rule were central to states’ resistance. Conflicts often arose between officials and agencies at all levels of government: local, state, and federal. In the post–World War II years, states strengthened requirements for relatives, especially adult children, to provide support in Old Age Assistance; they established or strengthened provisions to recoup OAA costs from recipients’ estates or required property liens as a condition of eligibility. States’ commitment to support requirements in the post–World War II era were part of the larger backlash against escalating public assistance costs, and OAA is a central target of this backlash. The goal was to ensure that family resources were exhausted before public support was provided in the name of fiscal control.