By Patricia Jones, Alliance Poverty Task Force
Social Security distributes benefits for more than four million children each month if one or both of their parents are disabled, retired, or deceased. Those dollars help to provide the necessities of life for family members to keep them out of poverty and help make it possible for those children to complete high school.
A child must have a parent who’s disabled or retired and entitled to Social Security benefits, or a parent who died after having worked long enough in a job where they paid Social Security taxes.
Unmarried children can get benefits if they are younger than 18, a full-time student up to age 19 and two months or until high school graduation, or 18 or older with a disability that began before age 22. Social Security can also pay benefits to a stepchild, grandchild, step-grandchild, or adopted child depending on guardianship. Most benefits end at age 18, and proof will be required if a child meets either the age or disability exception.
If a child is disabled, benefits will continue beyond age 18, after providing medical evidence of the disability. Childhood disability benefits are payable after reaching age 18, if the disability began before age 22. Disabled children may also be eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) benefits.
For students who have not yet graduated from high school, the Social Security Administration (SSA) will send you a notice three months before your child’s 18th birthday, letting you know that benefits will end when your child turns 18. If your child is younger than 19 and still attending a secondary or elementary school, the school must notify SSA and complete a statement of attendance certified by a school official. The benefits will then continue until your child graduates, or until two months after reaching age 19, whichever comes first. Benefits are not paid for college students.
Within a family, a child can receive up to half of the parent’s full retirement or disability benefit. If a child receives survivors benefits, they can get up to 75 percent of the deceased parent’s basic Social Security benefit. There is a limit, however, to the amount of money that the Social Security Administration (SSA) can pay to a family. The family maximum payment is determined as part of every Social Security benefit computation. It can be from 150 to 180 percent of the parent’s full benefit amount. If the total amount payable to all family members exceeds this limit, SSA reduces each child’s benefit proportionately until the total equals the maximum allowable amount.
When parents or guardians apply for benefits for a child, they need the child’s birth certificate and the parent’s and child’s Social Security numbers. Depending on the type of benefit involved, other documents may be required. For example, if you’re applying for survivors benefits for the child, you’ll need to furnish proof of the parent’s death. If you’re applying for benefits for a disabled child, you’ll need to furnish medical evidence to prove the child’s disability.
For more information or to apply for benefits, go to www.socialsecurity.gov. You can telephone 1-800-772-1213 seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Or you can visit the Social Security office in Scottsbluff, at 415 Valley View Drive.
Social Security benefits play a vital role in reducing poverty, lifting more Americans above the poverty line than any other program.