Utah committee backs bill to reserve portion of federal survivor benefits for children in state custody

Representative Fiafia, sponsor of HB302, told the House Health and Human Services Committee the bill aims to ensure “federal benefits intended for children in state custody are identified, protected, and used for their direct benefit rather than being absorbed into the system.”

The bill responds to an accounting problem the sponsor described: when a parent dies, federal survivor benefits such as Social Security survivor payments, railroad retirement survivor benefits or veterans benefits can flow to the state and be used to offset the cost of care for all children in custody rather than being preserved for the child who was the intended recipient. Representative Fiafia said Utah took about $2.2 million last year from 464 children in custody (an average of about $5,000 per child) and $21 million since 2015.

HB302 (second substitute) requires the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to determine eligibility for such benefits within 60 days of a child entering custody and to place…