Child-care programs treat any tax-unit head under 18 as a minor parent #9619

Summary

Several child-care programs identify a minor parent as a tax-unit head or spouse under 18. Under age ordering no one under 18 could be a head or spouse, because is_tax_unit_head excludes is_child. The code, and some comments, rely on that. #9617 honors dataset-supplied roles, and the certified Populace build makes 252 minors (93.9k weighted) heads of their own returns. 250 of them are alone in their unit, filing SINGLE: grandchildren, other relatives and non-relatives living in another family's SPM unit, not parents. These programs now treat them as minor parents.

Where

• gov/states/ga/decal/caps/copay/ga_caps_family_fee.py:23:
  has_minor_parent = spm_unit.any(is_head_or_spouse & (age <= p.minor_parent_age))
• gov/states/wi/dcf/shares/income/wi_shares_countable_income.py:24:
  is_dependent = ~person("is_tax_unit_head_or_spouse", period.this_year)
• gov/states/sd/dss/cca/income/sd_cca_countable_income.py:30-32: is_excluded_minor = (...) & ~is_head_or_spouse
• gov/states/wy/dfs/ccap/eligibility/wy_ccap_activity_eligible.py:40-47: the comment says "is_tax_unit_head_or_spouse is structurally False for anyone under 18", and the caretaker set is is_tax_unit_head_or_spouse | is_minor_parent.
• Comments that are no longer true:
  • gov/states/wv/dhhr/ccap/eligibility/wv_ccap_eligible.py:17: "tax-unit head/spouse status excludes people under 18"
  • gov/local/ca/cc/ga/eligibility/ca_cc_general_assistance_eligible.py:17-20
• The same head/spouse-as-minor-parent pattern appears, unverified by a run, in IA CCA, OK CCS, LA CCAP, UT CCAP (ut_ccap_is_client), MA CCFA (ma_ccfa_is_parent) and DC (dc_power_head_or_spouse_eligible).

Example (policyengine-us at #9617, June 2026)

One SPM unit, three people:

• a grandmother aged 55 with $30,000 of wages, who heads one tax unit;
• a 5-year-old grandchild, her dependent in that unit;
• a 16-year-old grandchild with $6,000 of wages, the sole member of a second tax unit.

Fix

Identify a minor parent directly, for example a person under the age limit with their own child in the unit (WY's is_minor_parent already does this), rather than through tax-unit head or spouse status. Then correct the comments.

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