The Imprint has reported quite a bit in the past few years on the use of federal benefits for foster youth to help state and local governments pay for foster care costs, a practice exposed by our colleagues at The Marshall Project and NPR in 2021. About 5% of all foster youth qualify for Supplemental Security Income benefits due to their own disability, or Social Security benefits based on the death or retirement of a parent, according to the Congressional Research Service.
In the years since that investigative series, a number of states, counties and cities have adjusted their policy to limit the ability of child welfare systems to capture that money. And this year has brought a fresh round of proposed legislation on this issue.
Youth Services Insider will keep track of this year’s legislation and update this column when we learn of any movements. We’ve also heard some rumblings of federal action on foster youth benefits — either by way of the Biden administration, Congress or both — and will add that to this tracker if it comes up.
Recapping the action from the past few years first:
Comprehensive Reforms Passed
State: Arizona
Local: Washington, D. C.
Note: The word “comprehensive” here refers to legislation that covers all of the sub-issues around foster youth benefits, including rules on who should be a payee, restricting the use of the funds, and transparency on its use when child welfare agencies are the payee.
Moderate Reforms Passed
State: California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Nebraska, New Jersey, Oregon, Hawaii, New Mexico, Washington
Local: Los Angeles, New York City, Philadelphia.
The Alaska court’s have also established protections for foster youth benefits, but that is currently pending appeal.
2024 Legislation
California (Updated 2/17)
Last fall, Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill that would have prevented the state’s 58 counties from using foster youth benefits. Advocates for the legislation expect it to be reintroduced this year.
Update: Rep. Isaac Bryan (D) has reintroduced his bill from last year, which was vetoed by Newsom. The bill would require counties to “ensure that the child’s survivors’ benefits are not used to pay for, or to reimburse the placing agency for, any costs of the child’s care and supervision.”
Update, September 11: The Juvenile Court Judges of California and a group of nearly six dozen individual juvenile court judges have each signed letters urging Newsom to sign this year’s version of the bill, AB 2906.
“In implementing this legislation, California will become a leader alongside Oregon and the District of Columbia in righting a tremendous wrong for our children who are dependents of this state,” the letter from the individual judges said. “Many other states are now considering similar legislation as Juvenile Court judges nationwide have become more aware of this issue. California should be on the forefront of this effort.”
Status: Passed in both chambers, awaiting decision by Newsom.
Colorado
Foster Youth Bill of Rights legislation introduced this session would require that use of a foster youth’s benefits go toward individual needs, current or foreseeable, pursuant to a direct assessment of the child. It also requires the child welfare system to notify the Social Security Administration when a youth exits foster care.
Status: Signed into law, August 2024
Kansas
A House bill would require that when the state child welfare agency is the payee for a foster youth’s benefits, that money “shall not use the benefits to pay or reimburse for the care and custody of the child.” It sets out allowable uses including needs “beyond the care and custody” of any foster youth, or the establishment of an account for the youth.
Status: Died in committee, April 2024.
Maine
Maine House Bill 2078 would ban the use of benefits to reimburse the state for the cost of foster care. The money can be used for needs above and beyond that, or to establish a trust for the child. The child welfare system must also produce yearly reports on the use of benefits to lawyers or guardians, and provide financial literacy instruction for foster youth with these benefits, starting before they turn 14.
Status: Passed by House and carried over to a potential next session by the Senate.
Massachusetts
Legislation has been introduced in both chambers that would require the state child welfare agency, in instances where it is the benefits payee, to set aside “no less than 10 percent of the child’s benefits in an account to be used only for the child’s personal needs.” The rest can only be spent on “unmet needs,” and otherwise must be saved for when the youth turns 18.
Status: Referred to the committee on House Ways and Means
Michigan
In addition to limiting the child welfare agency’s allowable use of benefits to things that are above and beyond standard foster care, lawmakers designate that a certain percentage of the funds are set aside for the youth’s future, based on their age: 40% from 14 to 15, 80% 16 to 17, and 100% for those in extended foster care.
Status: Referred to Committee on Families, Children and Seniors
Minnesota (UPDATED March 11)
Note: Our first attempt to describe Minnesota’s bill got it wrong describing a process by which counties would transfer benefits funds to a trust operated by the Office of the Foster Youth Ombudsperson. Apologies there, below is a better description.
Minnesota lawmakers introduced a bill with new rules around the use of benefits by child welfare systems in 2022. Last year, a bill in both chambers was introduced that would do the following:
-Require a “financially responsible agency” — which Youth Services Insider can only assume means the county child welfare or social services department — to assess whether or not a child is eligible for benefits. If so, under this bill, the agency must make itself the payee and transfer the benefits payments to the ombudsperson’s office.
-Establish a benefits trust to be managed by the Office of the Foster Youth Ombudsperson, currently led by Misty Coonce. This trust will “compensate beneficiaries for cash benefits taken by a financially responsible agency to pay
for the beneficiaries’ care.”
While the bill did not pass last session, there was an agreement reached to fund a two-year study that will examine the amount of foster youth for whom counties serve as a benefits payee, and the current practices counties have around the use of this money.
Meanwhile, the authors of that 2023 bill have put forth a more modest proposal this year that would require counties to notify the child or their family if the agency becomes a payee on benefits. The county must also keep track of benefits payments coming and and what it is used for.
Status: The current legislative proposals reside with the House Children and Families Finance and Policy Committee and the Senate Health and Human Services Committee.
Missouri (UPDATED March 11)
SB 862 would require the child welfare agency to determine if a foster youth is eligible for benefits, but only establish itself as payee if no other potential party (parent, relative, etc.) is viable. It also lists out allowable uses of the money while the child is in foster care, and rules out the use of it for the cost of anything that would be provided to any other foster youth.
Status: Approved by the Senate Health & Welfare Committee
Update: The House version of this bill has moved out of committee, and the Senate version is up for a full vote.
New Hampshire
House Bill 1598 would require the state agency to screen for eligibility, but make itself the payee of last resort after family members and other candidates. It also bans the use of these funds “for any of the costs of the child’s care.”
Status: Signed into law, July 2024.
New Mexico
House Bill 254 would require the child welfare agency to determine within 60 days of a foster care entry if the child is eligible for benefits. It also limits the use of benefits “for current unmet needs and future needs” The bill largely echoes administrative policy changes already made in the state on this issue.
Status: Introduced in the House Rules & Order of Business Committee
Tennessee
Senate Bill 1262 is short and sweet with two provisions: one saying the child welfare agency “shall not collect or expend” foster youth benefits, and another instructing that the money be held “in a trust account for the child to be released to the child without condition upon the child’s 18th birthday.”
Status: Referred to the General Subcommittee of Senate Judiciary Committee
Texas
This is the second time around for a benefits bill in Texas. House Bill 336 sets requirements on what the state child welfare agency must track and report to representatives of a foster youth. This includes the amount of benefits drawn in the name of the child, his or her current assets and information on any spending of those benefits by the agency.
Status: Passed by the House, referred to the Senate
Virginia (Updated March 11)
Senate Bill 40 would take the first incremental step toward changing policy around foster youth benefits. If passed, it would create a task force to study the feasibility of requiring local social services agencies in the state to apply for benefits when foster youth are eligible; ban the use of those funds for the cost of foster care; and keep the money in an “appropriate trust instrument or protected account that is exempt from federal asset and resource limits.”
Status: Passed the Senate; tabled by House Appropriations Committee
Update: This bill was amended to focus on a study to get more data, costs and plans for implementation. Here is the new language to that effect:
That the Department of Social Services shall establish a task force with relevant stakeholders to assess the feasibility of (i) requiring local departments of social services to apply for benefits administered by the Social Security Administration or the Department of Veterans Affairs on behalf of children in foster care that they may be eligible for, (ii) prohibiting the use of federal benefits to pay for the care and support of children in foster care that the Commonwealth is otherwise obligated to pay for, and (iii) requiring local departments of social services that are representative payees for children in foster care to conserve such federal benefits in an appropriate trust instrument or protected account that is exempt from federal asset and resource limits, such as an Achieving a Better Life Experience account. The Department shall report its findings to the Chairmen of the Senate Committees on Finance and Appropriations and Rehabilitation and Social Services and the Chairmen of the House Committees on Appropriations and Health and Human Services by November 1, 2024.