The Social Security Administration (SSA) is the federal agency responsible for paying pensions to taxpayers who retire from the workforce or are unable to work because of a disability. The social program also administers Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) and Supplemental Security Income (SSI). In the latter, some minors can benefit from the SSI check as long as they meet certain requirements.
Currently, the agency serves more than 71 million beneficiaries both abroad and within the United States, but the most vulnerable among them remain the children who are directly or indirectly under its care, as the minors are unable to fend for themselves.
How do I apply for Social Security’s SSI check for children?
According to the SSA, children with severe physical or intellectual impairments, such as cancer, Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, low birth weight, or total loss of vision or hearing, are eligible for SSI benefits.
In addition, the child’s disability must last at least 12 months or result in death. The SSA maintains a list of medical conditions and criteria that are specifically used to evaluate claims related to children.
Eligibility ends at age 18, although a person under age 22 who regularly attends elementary or secondary school may still be considered a “child” for benefit purposes.
But even with these guidelines in place, not all children will be eligible for benefits, as they are in the care of their parents and their personal circumstances will affect the care they can provide for their children and the support they will need from the state.
As a general rule, SSI is intended for people who earn no more than $1,971 per month from their job, but the income limit increases for couples and when parents apply for children. In addition, the program requires that you have little or no resources, $2,000 for individuals and $3,000 for couples; but, if you are a parent applying for a child, these figures increase by $2,000 to cover a broader demographic.
Because the concept of resources is very broad, there are some things that are always exempt from counting in these calculations, such as the house and land on which it sits, provided you live in it, one vehicle per household, most personal belongings and household items, and property that cannot be used or sold.
However, this is not always enough to support a family, so below are other forms of income that also do not compute for these calculations and greatly help families:
- State SSI Supplemental Payments
- Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits (food stamps)
- Section 8 housing vouchers
- Rent rebates or property tax refunds
- Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF)
- Certain expenses for persons with blindness
- Certain expenses for people with disabilities
- New SSI rules introduced by SSA
