Colorado counties will no longer be allowed to take the Social Security survivor benefits of orphans in order to pay for their foster care, under a new law signed Wednesday by Gov. Jared Polis.
The law puts a stop to the current practice of county child welfare departments applying for federal parental death benefits on behalf of foster children and then using the money to pay for the cost of their care.
In Colorado and across the country, child advocates have argued that it’s unfair to make foster children whose parents have died pay for their shelter and care while other children do not. Under the new law, those federal benefits will go into a personal account that the child could use for extracurricular activities or camps, and the state must release any remaining money to the child when they leave foster care.
Arizona was the first state to pass a similar law and Colorado was one of about 30 where policy changes had been proposed. Journalists across the country, including at The Colorado Sun, found that children in foster care often did not even know that child welfare officials had applied for and spent benefits on their behalf.
The Colorado legislation that passed in the midst of a budget crisis was a whittled-down version of the original proposal. Children with disabilities were cut out of the bill.
The initial version of House Bill 1271 would have also prevented county human services departments from keeping the Social Security benefits of children with disabilities. But the cost to counties was so high, and the complexities of changing the funding mechanism so entwined with long-term policy, that the bill’s prime sponsors said they would drop that part of the proposal for now and bring it up another year.
Bipartisan support of the bill “signals a future that includes Supplemental Security Income for kids who have disabilities,” said Ian Fletcher, a community advocate in Littleton who worked on the reform.
“Benefits that belong to Colorado survivors of deceased parents who are in foster care will now achieve their intended purpose — supporting that young person during and after the involvement in child welfare,” he said.
As is, the law is expected to cost the state $130,000 the first year, then up to $1.4 million in future years, mainly to pay for staff and contractors who would screen children for eligibility and set up trust accounts with their federal benefits.
Counties have until July 2027 to fully transition to the new requirements. Boulder County had already ended the practice last year.
An estimated 130 of the 7,200 children in foster care statewide are receiving survivor benefits, according to a legislative analysis. Counties are spending $843,000 of these benefits per year on their foster care.
The number of children receiving the benefits is expected to increase by about 105 after counties begin a more robust screening program, as required by the new law.
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