anxious report Nearly all states routinely receive federal benefits from children in foster care and use those benefits to offset foster care costs, according to a study by the Child Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law. .
As with foster children who are not in the foster care system, some foster children are eligible for disability benefits, including those related to Social Security and survivor benefits related to the Veterans Administration, Elderly, Survivors, and Disabilities. You are entitled to receive federal funds. A study by the Children’s Advocacy Association focused on insurance programs issued upon the death of a parent.
However, out of all 50 states and the District of Columbia, only seven received a passing score on the survey: Arizona, Washington, D.C., New Mexico, Oregon, Maryland, Illinois, and Washington. . The rest ran away with federal funds for foster children in the name of “profit maximization” and received F grades, often without even telling the children first.
“For this subset of adopted youth who face significant obstacles when transitioning out of care, these assets can serve as a lifeline and contribute to economic security, self-sufficiency, and successful outcomes.” The study states. “Most foster youth who are eligible for these federal benefits will never see a penny of their money or even know that someone has applied for and received benefits on their behalf. ”
of detroit free press investigated this issue in Michigan, one of the 44 states that failed the study. According to the paper, Michigan will collect $3.2 million in federal benefits designated for foster children in the 2022-23 fiscal year, all of which will go toward reimbursing “states for the cost of supporting children in the child welfare system.” It is said that
The only way foster children in Michigan can begin receiving a portion of federal benefits or have those benefits saved for them is if “the child’s gross income exceeds child support.” . Michigan Department of Health and Human Services is shown.
However, the state clearly failed to play a role in even some of these cases. The Free Press noted that one former foster youth whose father died did not receive federal benefits for the first six months after being returned to his birth mother’s care. That means the state collected nearly $5,400 to which the young man was entitled.
“I don’t understand how someone could do something like that to a child who is just trying to move on with his life,” said the boy’s mother, Jenny Bowden.
“It feels like they don’t actually care about it or are trying to have a good image without doing the work,” Borden’s son added.
When asked for comment, the Michigan Department of Health would not deny denying federal benefits to foster children. “This is common practice in many states,” officials said.
“If a child is placed in an out-of-home situation by MDHHS, any income or funds available to the child will be set aside and used to reimburse the national taxes that cover the child’s child support. The child’s gross income will cover the costs. If it exceeds, the excess child support amount will be saved for the child,” the official kindly explained.
Jill Bauer, a staff attorney in the Washtenaw County, Michigan, attorney’s office, took a decidedly different view. “Why should children on Social Security pay for their own foster care?” she asked rhetorically.
Elisa Weichel, executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Institute, said states’ practices of collecting federal funds belonging to foster children reinforce that they view foster children as potential sources of income rather than as people. He even suggested that.
“I believe the state is choosing to put its own economic interests ahead of the best interests of the children in its care,” Weichel told the Free Press. “Unfortunately, , and that’s probably the message kids are getting in a different way, too.”
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