Donation Almost Costs Family Its Welfare Check

After learning of a trust fund established to help a needy family that had suffered a tragic accident, a County Social Services Agency worker moved to suspend the family’s $550-a-month welfare payment and threatened to have the Irvine company that organized the fund investigated for fraud, officials said.

But after an inquiry Friday, a Social Services Agency official said there had been some “misunderstanding” and that a further review of the case showed that the donations would not affect the family’s benefits.

“We appreciate the efforts on behalf of a needy family,” said Sandi Harrison, program manager of Aid for Dependent Children in Orange County. “There may have been some unfortunate misunderstandings that arose in this particular context, but I’m sure they’ll be resolved.”

About $2,500 had been donated to help the family of Gudelia M. Calva, 29, who was eight months pregnant when she was struck by a drunk driver while walking to a fast-food restaurant near her home. Her husband, Jorge Soqui, also 29, had to quit his job after the July 3 accident to take care of the couple’s two young children. The family’s only regular income since then has been the monthly check.

But when Soqui went to pick up the check on Thursday, eligibility technician Joann Celis told him she had read an article in The Times about the fund and that the donations could disqualify the family from receiving Aid for Dependent Children.

After meeting with Soqui, Celis called Ferguson Partners, the Irvine real estate firm that is coordinating the fund. She spoke with Debbie Larson, a paralegal with the firm, and one of the company’s lawyers.

When Larson would not confirm that $2,500 had been donated to the family, Celis told her, “ ‘I’m just going to turn this over to be investigated for fraud,’ ” Larson said, and hung up.

“I’m absolutely shocked,” said John Ferguson, the firm’s president. “That is the most absurd thing I could imagine.”

Celis, reached by telephone, said, “I’m not at liberty to discuss the case with anybody but the client.”

Harrison said Friday that there would be no investigation of Ferguson Partners. “We certainly don’t want to discourage private entities from partnering” to provide social services, Harrison said.

Soqui said he understood why Celis wanted to investigate the trust fund.

“That’s her job,” he said. “I’m sure she was just trying to protect herself.”

Anticipating that the donations might affect his family’s welfare eligibility, Soqui said he showed Celis photocopies of the donation checks he had cashed. “I wanted to report that because I know it’s income,” he said.

But Calva, who remains bedridden five months after the accident, was not as understanding of Celis’ actions.

“The government only thinks of the rules. They don’t respect our rights as human beings who need help,” she said. “I think I’m going to go to the White House and lay outside until I can get the medical help I need.”

The confusion about the benefits may have arisen because the family’s children, ages 6 and 2, were receiving government benefits but Soqui and Calva were not. Ordinarily, parents would receive welfare along with their children, but Calva and Soqui are ineligible because they are illegal immigrants, said Angelo Doti, director of financial assistance for the County Social Services Agency.

If the donations were intended specifically for the children, then the Aid for Dependent Children could be affected, Doti said.

The maximum donation the children could receive would be $30 per month per child, Doti said. Beyond that amount, “state and federal laws require that this be deducted from benefits to the family,” Doti said. However, if the donations are for Calva, “the money is not in theory available to the children, and it’s a whole different ballgame,” Doti said.

Ironically, Ferguson Partners had investigated whether establishing the fund could affect the family’s welfare eligibility. Chuck Delgado, a lawyer for Ferguson Partners who drafted the legal documents for the trust fund, said it was set up so that company officials were trustees. That way, the fund would not be Soqui’s property and thus would have no effect on government benefits, Delgado said.

He dismissed any accusations of intent to defraud the government as “ludicrous.”

“We’re not trying to subvert the welfare rules,” Delgado said. “We’re just trying to help these people out so they have a minimally adequate existence. . . . We may have been setting the fund up wrong, but tell me how to fix it. Don’t turn us over to the fraud department.”

Ferguson said he would dissolve the trust account if that will keep the family from losing its benefits. Harrison, of the Social Services Agency, said Friday that the family’s benefits would not be interrupted.

“Any further discussion of this case will be with me or my analysts,” she said. “We will make sure that the private individuals who have been so generous can have their donations help the family without harming them financially in some other way.”