{"id":27518,"date":"2024-05-21T13:42:59","date_gmt":"2024-05-21T19:42:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/for-decades-states-have-taken-foster-childrens-federal-benefits\/"},"modified":"2024-05-21T19:42:59","modified_gmt":"2024-05-21T19:42:59","slug":"for-decades-states-have-taken-foster-childrens-federal-benefits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/for-decades-states-have-taken-foster-childrens-federal-benefits\/","title":{"rendered":"For decades, states have taken foster children’s federal benefits"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Jesse
Jesse Fernandez, center, stands with his former foster parents Jason and Joyce White Friday, May 17, 2024, in Independence, Mo. Fernandez was paid thousands of dollars of Social Security survivor's benefits because of the death of his mother, but by the time he turned 18, the money had all been used by the state of Missouri and Fernandez's relatives to pay for his foster care. (AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel)<\/span>(AP Photo\/Charlie Riedel)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

JEFFERSON CITY, Missouri \u2013 By the time Jesse Fernandez turned 18, the federal government had paid out thousands of dollars in Social Security survivor\u2019s benefits because of the death of his mother. But Jesse\u2019s bank account was empty.<\/p>\n

The money had all been used by Missouri\u2019s foster care system or relatives responsible for his care.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was shocked,\u201d said Jason White, a foster parent to Fernandez.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose dollars are a big deal,\u201d he continued. \u201cHad they been saved, or a chunk of it saved, he\u2019d have money for a car and a first-time apartment.\u201d<\/p>\n

For decades, states have routinely applied for Social Security survivor and disability benefits on behalf of foster children and then used that money<\/a> to help cover the costs of foster care services. The tactic has saved states from having to spend millions of their own tax dollars on foster care programs.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s beginning to change under pressure from child advocates who contend the practice is both immoral and detrimental to foster children because it exhausts funds that could have helped them transition to adulthood.<\/p>\n

More than a dozen states have made at least some sort of revisions to the practice since Maryland became the first to do so in 2018.<\/p>\n

New Mexico has made several changes.<\/p>\n

New Mexico\u2019s children\u2019s department announced last year it would no longer<\/a> tap into foster children\u2019s Social Security benefits and instead place that money in a trust for children.<\/p>\n

The state also expanded the reach of a program, \u201cfostering connections,<\/a>\u201d that includes providing support for housing, health care and transportation to youths raised in foster care as they turn 18 and age out of the child welfare system, under an executive order signed in March by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.<\/p>\n

The announcement was among the latest efforts to improve results from New Mexico\u2019s troubled child protection and well-being system.<\/p>\n

New Mexico\u2019s repeat rate of reported child abuse cases is among the worst in the country, amid chronic workforce shortages in the child welfare system and high turnover among employees in protective services.<\/p>\n

Massachusetts\u2019 children\u2019s agency said earlier this year it also was ending the use of foster children\u2019s Social Security benefits to cover its costs.<\/p>\n

Colorado became the latest in April when it enacted a law<\/a> establishing a foster children\u2019s list of rights<\/a>, which stipulates that any benefits be used for their \u201cindividual needs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Similar measures have been proposed this year in numerous states as part of an \u201cincredible explosion of reform efforts,\u201d said Amy Harfeld, national policy director for the Children\u2019s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law.<\/p>\n

But change doesn\u2019t always come easy.<\/p>\n

Missouri legislation that advocates touted as a national model failed to receive final approval Friday, despite previously passing both chambers. Supporters pointed to gridlock in the Republican-led Legislature and concerns about an unrelated child-custody amendment attached to the bill.<\/p>\n

Both chambers of the Democratic-led Maine Legislature also approved a measure last month that would have prohibited the state from using foster children\u2019s federal survivor benefits to reimburse its costs for foster care services. But the legislation failed to reach the governor\u2019s desk because lawmakers weren\u2019t able to allocate the nearly $1.8 million necessary to compensate for the proposed change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a strong and growing interest to implement reforms,\u201d said Meg Dygert, staff leader of the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators.<\/p>\n

But \u201caddressing this issue is not without its complexities,\u201d she said. \u201cTo shift practices, child welfare agencies must work through significant financial, operational, technical, and legal challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n

An estimated 40,000 to 80,000 children in foster care either receive or are eligible for Social Security benefits, typically because of the death of a parent or their own disability, according to a report released last month by the Children\u2019s Advocacy Institute. Those benefits typically pay hundreds of dollars a month per child, which adds up to millions of dollars annually for states.<\/p>\n

In Missouri, the Children\u2019s Division spent more than $9.3 million last year on foster care services from the accounts of about 1,400 foster children who received Social Security benefits, according to legislative research staff.<\/p>\n

Those federal disability payments would have amounted to an estimated $123,000 over 13 years for Alexus Brandon, her foster mother Brenda Keith said. But Brandon, 21, received none of that when she aged out of Missouri\u2019s foster care system because the state had used it all, Keith said.<\/p>\n

Brandon now receives monthly disability checks, but she has fallen behind on rent payments and can\u2019t afford a car, making it harder to get a job.<\/p>\n

Had the state set aside some of her childhood disability benefits for future use, \u201cit would have helped me start out my life,\u201d Brandon said.<\/p>\n

The Missouri legislation would have required the Children\u2019s Division to apply for Social Security benefits on behalf of eligible foster children but prohibited the agency from using that money for required foster care expenses. Instead, the benefits would have been set aside for children when they age out of foster care or spent on \u201cunmet needs\u201d such as school, transportation or other items.<\/p>\n

A similar measure<\/a> passed the Republican-led Arizona Legislature last year and was signed into law by Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs. At the time, the state Department of Child Safety said it was collecting about $6.2 million annually in Social Security and veterans\u2019 survivor benefits on behalf of foster children and spending around $4 million of that on foster care services.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe shouldn\u2019t be funding government off the backs of abused children,\u201d said Kendall Seal, vice president of policy at the Center for the Rights of Abused Children, which backed the Arizona and Missouri measures.<\/p>\n

Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, also signed a law<\/a> last year barring the state from using children\u2019s benefits to cover the state\u2019s costs of food, clothing, housing and daily supervision of foster children. It instead directs those funds to savings accounts for children\u2019s personal needs, including education and future housing expenses.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers in Missouri and Maine said they would try again next year to pass legislation limiting the state\u2019s use of foster children\u2019s federal benefits.<\/p>\n

The Maine measure was sponsored by Democratic Rep. Amy Roeder, who adopted two sons from foster care, including one who receives Social Security survivor\u2019s benefits because his biological father died. While he was in the foster care system, her son didn\u2019t receive any of those monthly benefit payments. But Roeder said she is now saving the funds until he is an adult to help pay for higher education or housing.<\/p>\n

\u201cMoney is a cold comfort when you lose somebody, but it\u2019s something,\u201d Roeder said, \u201ceven if it\u2019s just a little bit of a boost to get you started.<\/p>\n

\"Maine
Maine state Rep. Amy Roeder, left, poses for a photo with her son, Evan, in the Maine House of Representatives on Dec. 7, 2022, in Augusta, Maine. Roeder adopted her two sons from foster care and has sponsored legislation that would require the state to set aside foster children's Social Security survivor benefits for their unmet needs or future use. Amy Roeder via AP<\/span>(Amy Roeder via AP)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

stopped tapping into their Social Security benefits just last year and now places that money in a trust <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27519,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,138],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-27518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27519"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27518"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=27518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}