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Committee adjusts language letting DCF, as rep‑payee, use foster youths' Social Security benefits with appeal and accounting safeguards
Summary
The committee revised H657 language to allow the department, as representative payee, to use a foster child's Social Security benefits for unmet needs upon request, add an appeals duty for denied SSI applications, and require annual accounting; members discussed staggered implementation to allow planning.
The House Human Services Committee reviewed proposals in H657 that would clarify how Social Security benefits are handled for children in foster care when the Department acts as a representative payee.
Draft subsection B (as read to committee) would permit the department, "upon the request of the child or the child's foster care provider," in its role as representative payee, to use the child's Social Security benefits for the child's unmet needs beyond amounts the state otherwise provides. Committee members discussed implementation timing and agreed to staggered roll‑out so the department can plan staffing and processes.
The draft also adds a requirement that the department, with assistance from the state treasurer, appeal any denied SSI applications submitted on behalf of a child and furnish an annual accounting of how a child's Social Security benefits were used or conserved. That accounting would be made available to the child, parents or guardians, counsel, family division and the Office of Child, Youth and Family Advocate.
Administration staff raised capacity concerns about conducting appeals, noting appeals are rare and that appeals staff are limited; committee members replied that filing an appeal for cases where an application has been submitted should not be onerous given the small number of such cases. One member observed the change was "in response to the department's request" to allow staggered implementation by age groups; the committee adopted a simpler single implementation delay to give the department time to plan.
No formal vote on the provision was recorded in the excerpted transcript; the committee planned to vote on H657 later the same day.
