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Former foster youth, advocates press Michigan lawmakers to stop states from seizing youths’ Social Security benefits
Summary
Former foster youth and advocates told the House subcommittee that survivor and disability benefits paid to children following a parent’s death or disability are sometimes diverted from the child to state accounts; witnesses urged statutory changes to preserve those funds for the child’s future.
Former foster youth and advocates told the House Oversight Subcommittee on Child Welfare System that Social Security and other benefit payments intended for children are in many cases received by state or third‑party payees and not preserved for the child.
Justin Couschetta, a Michigan native who testified in person, said he lost roughly $18,000 in Social Security survivor benefits after his father’s death when he and his siblings entered foster care. “About $18,000 in total was taken from just me,” Couschetta said. He told the committee that representative‑payee rules under the Social Security Administration allow a payee to receive funds on a child’s behalf, and in Michigan those funds have at times been used to reimburse state foster care…
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