Joan L. Brehm and Mark J. Brehm v. Patricia Roberts Harris, Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare

OPINION OF THE COURT

WEIS, Circuit Judge.

Three years after he began receiving social security disability benefits, Cloyd E. Brehm and his wife adopted Mark as their son. HEW refused to make child insurance payments for Mark because the Social Security Act required that he have lived with and been dependent on Cloyd for a year before his disability began. Mark argues that he has been denied equal protection because under the Act, afterborn natural children, as well as afteradoptees who are stepchildren or natural children of the wage earner, are eligible for benefits. We conclude that Mark’s…