Are there disability benefits for children?

If your minor-age child has a disability, he or she may potentially receive disability benefits through the SSI disability (supplemental security income) program.

The first step in acquiring disability benefits for your child is to apply for disability with Social Security. This can be done online for title II Social Security Disability claims, but, in the case of SSI claims, this only equates to a "lead", not an actual application (in other words, no protective filing benefit). Therefore, for this reason, you may wish to contact your local social security office and arrange a time for a disability application interview (to be conducted in person or over the phone).

Once Social Security has established your child’s disability claim, they will forward the claim to the state disability agency for a medical decision (as I've stated many times, this agency is known in most states as DDS, or disability determination services, and it is there that disability claims are approved or denied, prior to the disability hearing level where the adjudicator is an administrative law judge).

The SSI disability process is the same for adults and children, although the medical criteria to establish disability is different. Of course, if your child is denied they have the same appeal rights as an adult (Meaning that if an application is denied, there will be a window of 60 days in which to file a request for reconsideration, and if a reconsideration is denied, there will be a window of 60 days in which to file a request for a disability hearing before an administrative law judge).

Keep in mind that a child’s entitlement, or eligibility for disability benefits, depends not only on a medical determination, but also on the income and resources of the parents. This is because SSI is a need-based program and, as such, non-medical criteria will be used to award benefits in addition to medical criteria. In other words, even if a child has medical or mental impairments that qualify for a medical allowance (an approval) the claim may be denied due to the income and resources (assets) of a parent or parents.





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