Advertisements
I know I asked this years ago, but it has come up again. On Christmas Eve I got a call from the local Social Security office that they had a large amount of money 'on hold' for my youngest daughter in overdue monthly Social Security benefits (her birth father was murdered prior to her becoming a foster child, and birth mother had been recieving benefits.) I told the representative that we had been told that we could not recieve the subsidy and the Social Security at the same time. He said he would do more research into it, but he didn't think that was the case. So, I don't want ot get my hopes up, but has anyone been able to get both Social Security Death Benefit and subsidy at the same time? We can certainly survive without the additional funds, but it would allow us to do some additional things for our daughter now, as well as put some money away for her future. Thanks!!!! Diane
Like
Share
Advertisements
According to a friend who was in the same situation, the subsidy can not be received at the same time as social security. Social security comes first and the subsidy would make up the difference up to the amount of the original subsidy. For example, her subsidy would be $700 per month, but the social security is $500. She would receive the $500 from social security and $200 from the adoption subsidy. To be on the safe side, I would contact my adoption worker.Happy123
we are in this situation. the bottom line is you can not receive more money than your agreement calls for. so say our child X gets 700 a month. say they qualify for ssi benefits for 250, then the adoption assistance check is lowered to 450 so that the total amount is still 700. i hate dealing with the ssi. it is a PAIN. every year i have to fill out a paper saying how i spent the money, it has to be directly deposited into an account with some weird title (the bank had to help me), and every year when the ssi benefits go up, then my adoption benefits go down. every year i report it, they never change the adoption amount, and then 2 years later at the reassessment my adoption amount goes down, and i have to repay the overpayment. lol. it is a mess. it all works out in the wash, but it is a headache. whatever you do, don't cash the ssi checks without talking to your worker.
The information I found is this:
If a child was receiving SSA benefits while in DCFS care, that child will remain eligible for benefits. In this case, the adoptive parent or guardian can receive both the subsidy and the SSA that the child is entitled to from his or her birth parent's death or disability. Im not an attorney but did find out from a worker personally, I faced the same situation. Also,when asked to report your income for various reasons,it should not be reported. I called the state post adoption office in my state when I needed the help.
We receive the SSI benefit from the children's bio. Dad for his FAS/ADHD disabilities. We were notified when we were fostering them and the state told us to go to the SS office and apply to be payees and they also sent us all the money they had already applied for and received for the children (DSHS had been holding it for them). The kids do not get a very big amount ($56/month each), but every little bit helps. It did not affect our adoption subsidy when it came up. We do currently get both.
Advertisements
Forgot to say, also, that it was rather easy. We just brought court paperwork showing they were in our care and the paper sent to us from DSHS that they wanted the benefits to go to the children in foster care. After the adoption, we just took in the adoption decree and amended birth certificates to change their names.
The DSHS worker did say some offices were more picky and wanted more paperwork, but we had absolutely no problems.
IF....you were asking about receiving SSI disability for your child AND subsidy for the child.....I'd say 'no'. You can't have both.
HOWEVER......as I"m understanding this, the SSI isn't because you applied for it due to the CHILD'S special needs, it was held/granted because of the death of the biodad PRIOR to the child being in foster care (and adopted by you), correct?
IF that's the case, I think the child CAN receive both...because they're coming due to different reasons...NOT THE SAME ones, KWIM? SSI is from the death of the biodad---PREVIOUS to the adoption/fostering; the subsidy is due to THE CHILD'S special needs through adoption/fostering, etc.....two different situations.
Sincerely,
Linny
ETA: And NOW I just see that this is a VERY OLD THREAD!!!!!!!!!!! (sigh)
Since I see some 'newer' posts on my old thread, I figured I give the heads up on where we stand, in case anyone else ends up dealing with this. Noting that the SSI that dd recieves is due to her birth fathers death. AND we negotiated her subsidy under the impression we were not eligible for this (that is what the county told us, I asked SEVERAL times) We are now required to reduce our adoption subsidy invoice each month by the amount that we recieve from SSI. So in the end I have spent many, many hours in appointments and paperwork, we get exactly the same amount as we did before.
I adopted 2 children that were considered to be under the special needs label. Thus I received an adoption subsidy. DSS, now DCF, called me an continually encouraged me to go down to Social Security and get death benefits from Bio-dad. They never told me that I could not receive both. I found out 10 months later when I filled out my Re-evalution form that I should not be receiving both. So after I had made purchases and upgrades that would only be paid by the Death Benefit, I lose that benefit. We have never recovered and never will. I believe that DCF wants as many as possible to go after SSI because it reduces what they have to put out. But they don't tell you that it will be a wash in the end after you go through the whole process. They even encouraged me with the words that, "everyone could use some extra money". In the end, it was a major financial reversal.
Advertisements
There is Additional Social Security Subsidy if Child is considered Disabled Since Birth!!Have ya'll inquired about this as a Benefit??Juli
We are in the situation of my husband retired and our granddaughter who we adopted receives a subsidy along with dependent benefits. When we signed up for retirement benefits they said since it was federal and state it didn’t matter to them. But I had heard I needed to let the state know. We let them know and was told we were fine because it was earnings based. Has anyone else come across this?