Martha Blair, on Behalf of Barbara Brown v. Joseph Califano, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare

EDWARDS, Chief Judge.

This is an unusual appeal from denial of social security benefits. Martha Blair is the grandmother of a child, Barbara Brown, born in 1963. Barbara has lived with her grandmother since infancy and aside from occasional visits with her mother has been entirely supported and cared for by Mrs. Blair and her husband. The Blairs’ claim, as advanced in the proceedings before the Secretary of HEW and in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, is that under the doctrine of “equitable adoption,” Barbara should be regarded as the child of Martha Blair…