The End of Responsible Relative Liability

Abstract

Responsible relative liability laws exist to shift some of the cost of care of residentially placed handicapped children from the state to the children's parents. Because residential placement of handicapped children, particularly developmentally disabled children, would not be undertaken but for the need to teach these children life skills, the Education for the Handicapped Act would dictate that these placements be free of cost to parents. Recently, the courts have resolved the tension between the preexisting state-responsible relative laws and the Education for the Handicapped Act. Ruling in favor of the parents, they have invalidated the responsible relative charges. This article describes the conflict, its resolution in the recent case Parks v. Pavkovic, and some of the implications of that decision.

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References

Burlington School Committee v. Department of Education, 1985, 471 U.S. 359.

Code of Federal Regulations: Assistance to States for Education of Handicapped Children, 1987, 34 C.F.R. sec. 300.1, et seq.

Education of the Handicapped Act (1970) (as amended by the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, Public Law 94–142 [1975]), 20 U.S.C. sec. 1400, et seq. (1982 & Supp. III 1985, amended by Public Law 99–372 [1986]).

Guempel v. State, 1978, 159 N.J. Super. 166, 387 A.2d 399.

Jenkins v. State of Florida , 1985, 1984–85 Ed. Handicapped L. Report 556:471 (M.D. Fla.), vacated and remanded in part on other grounds, 815 F.2d 629 (11th Cir. 1987).

Lawrence T. v. Julia T., 1980, 103 Misc. 2d 1075, 427 N.Y.S.2d 561 (Fam. Ct.)

Levine v. State of New Jersey Dept. of Institutions and Agencies, 1980, 160 N.J. Super. 591, 390 A.2d 699.

Parks v. Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities, 1982, 110 Ill. App. 3d 184, 441 N.E.2d 1209.

Parks v. Pavkovic , 1985, 753 F.2d 1397 (7th Cir.), cert. denied, 105 S.Ct. 3529, 106 S.Ct. 246 (1985), affirming in part and reversing in part 536 F. Supp. 296 (N.D. Ill. 1982) and 557 F. Supp. 1280 (1983).

10.

Smith v. Robinson, 1984, 468 U.S. 992.