Court Opinion

ID: 9466679
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-05 01:23:02.633172+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:39:52.459544
License: Public Domain

ADAMS, Circuit Judge,
concurring.
I can perceive only a slight possibility that a disabled wage earner would, or even could, adopt a child merely to qualify the child for Social Security Act benefits. More to the point, there appears to me, at least, to be little reason for believing that a disabled wage earner would be more likely to adopt a child unrelated by blood or marriage for this purpose, rather than a natural child or a stepchild. Nevertheless, I recognize that it is conceivable that Congress could have-enacted § 402(d) with these justifications in mind. And I cannot say that it would have been irrational for Congress to have believed that precluding children adopted by an unrelated disabled wage earner from participating in the Act’s child insurance program might further the legitimate purpose of safeguarding against abuse of the program. Vance v. Bradley, 440 U.S. 93, 97, 111, 99 S.Ct. 939, 943, 950, 59 L.Ed.2d 171 (1979). Accordingly, I concur in the result reached by the majority.
It might be well, however, for Congress as well as the Social Security Administration to reconsider whether the classification in question is not far broader and somewhat harsher than necessary to achieve the suggested purpose of protecting against sham adoptions aimed at gaining social welfare benefits. This seems to be particularly so in view of the carefully regulated nature of adoption procedures that now obtain in practically every state.1

. As a general policy, adoption is encouraged by the states. Statutes in practically every state and the District of Columbia, however, permit adoption only by court decree and only *1022after an investigation and report on the suitability of prospective parents, an evidentiary hearing by the judge, some period of supervised residency of the child in the prospective home, and a finding by the judge that the adoption is in the child’s best interests. For a table of citations to pertinent statutes see Exhibit A, Appendix at 26A.