Federal Disability Benefits for Foster Care Youth

     Under current law, a county department of human or social services (county department) is required, beginning on or before July 1, 2027, to determine whether a child or youth who is in foster care (child or youth) and who has a deceased parent may be eligible to receive federal survivor benefits and to apply for and manage those benefits under certain circumstances. Current law sets forth various survivor benefit application, accounting, and notice requirements for county departments, which must save survivor benefit money in an account for the individual child or youth in some cases.

     The bill extends, beginning on or before July 1, 2028, certain application, accounting, and notice provisions already in place for survivor benefits to federal supplemental security income benefits (SSI), which are monthly payments awarded to a child or youth with a disability and limited resources. The bill adds requirements related to identifying and documenting the disability of a child or youth in the child welfare system. A county department must deposit amounts above the countable resource threshold for SSI eligibility in a savings account specifically for individuals with disabilities, established and maintained for the child or youth in foster care. If a child or youth is receiving SSI, the county department must document how the money is spent in the state's welfare case management system.


(Note: This summary applies to this bill as introduced.)