JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — By the time Jesse Fernandez turned 18, the federal government had paid out thousands of dollars in Social Security survivor benefits because of his mother’s death. But Jesse’s bank account was empty.
The money was used entirely by Missouri’s foster care system or by relatives who were responsible for his care.
“I was shocked,” said Jason White, a foster parent of Fernandez.
“These dollars are a big deal,” he continued. “If they or part of them had been saved, he would have money for a car and a first home.”
For decades, states have routinely applied for Social Security survivor and disability benefits for foster children and then used that money to cover the cost of foster care services. This tactic has saved states from having to spend millions of their own tax dollars on foster care programs.
But that is beginning to change under pressure from child advocates who say the practice is both immoral and harmful to foster children because it depletes the resources that could have helped them transition into adulthood.
More than a dozen states have changed this practice in at least some way since Maryland became the first to do so in 2018. Colorado became the latest state to pass a law in April establishing a list of foster children’s rights, requiring that all foster children’s rights and services be used for their “individual needs.”
Similar measures have been proposed in numerous states this year as part of an “incredible explosion of reform efforts,” said Amy Harfeld, national policy director of the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law.
But change is not always simple.
Missouri’s legislation, touted by advocates as a national model, did not receive final approval Friday despite previously passing both chambers. Supporters cited gridlock in the Republican-led Legislature and concerns about an unrelated child custody change attached to the bill.
Both chambers of Maine’s Democratic-led Legislature also approved a measure last month that would have banned the state from using federal foster care survivor benefits to reimburse its costs for foster care services. However, the bill did not make it to the governor’s desk because the Legislature was unable to appropriate the nearly $1.8 million needed to offset the proposed change.
“There is strong and growing interest in implementing reforms,” said Meg Dygert, chief of staff for the National Association of Public Child Welfare Administrators.
But “solving this problem is not without complexity,” she said. “To change practices, child welfare agencies must overcome significant financial, operational, technical and legal challenges.”
According to a report released last month by the Children’s Advocacy Institute, an estimated 40,000 to 80,000 children in foster care are either receiving or eligible for Social Security benefits, typically due to the death of a parent or their own disability. These benefits typically pay hundreds of dollars per month per child, adding up to millions of dollars per year for states.
In Missouri, the Department of Children’s Services spent more than $9.3 million on foster care services last year from the accounts of about 1,400 foster children who received Social Security benefits, according to the Legislature’s research team.
Those federal disability payments would have totaled an estimated $123,000 over 13 years for Alexus Brandon, said her foster mother, Brenda Keith. But Brandon, 21, received nothing when she left Missouri’s foster care system because the state took everything, Keith said.
Brandon now receives monthly disability checks, but she is behind on her rent payments and can’t afford a car, making it harder to find a job.
If the state had set aside some of her child disability benefits for the future, “it would have helped me start my life,” Brandon said.
The Missouri legislation would have required the Department of Children’s Services to apply for Social Security benefits on behalf of eligible foster children, but prohibited the agency from using that money for necessary care costs. Instead, the benefits would have been reserved for children as they exit foster care or spent on “unmet needs” such as school, transportation or other items.
A similar measure 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 collects about $6.2 million annually in Social Security and survivor benefits for foster children and spends about $4 million of that on foster care services.
“We shouldn’t fund the government on the backs of abused children,” said Kendall Seal, vice president of policy at the Center for the Rights of Abused Children, which supported the measures in Arizona and Missouri.
Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek, a Democrat, also signed a law last year that prohibits the state from using child support to cover the state’s costs for food, clothing, housing and daily care for foster children. Instead, these funds are funneled into savings accounts to cover children’s personal needs, including education and future housing costs.
The New Mexico Department of Children’s Services announced last year that it would no longer apply Social Security benefits for foster children and would instead put the money into a trust for children. The Massachusetts Department of Child Services announced earlier this year that it would also stop using Social Security benefits for foster children to cover its costs.
Lawmakers in Missouri and Maine said they would try again next year to pass laws restricting the state’s apply of federal benefits for foster children.
The Maine measure was sponsored by Democratic Rep. Amy Roeder, who adopted two sons from foster care, including one who is receiving Social Security survivor benefits because his biological father died. While living in foster care, her son received none of these monthly benefits. But Roeder said she is now saving the money until he is an adult to assist pay for higher education or housing.
“Money is cold comfort when you lose someone, but it’s something,” Roeder said, “even if it’s just a little push to get you started.”
