Supplemental Security Income (SSI) for Children
Children’s Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a need-based program for children who have a disability. To be eligible to receive SSI, a child’s family must meet non-medical criteria and a child must meet the medical criteria. Non-medical criteria include that a child’s family income must fall below specific limits set by the Social Security Administration. Family income limits depend on the number of parents in the household and the number of ineligible children in the household.
As for the medical criteria required for a child to receive SSI, a child must have a medically determinable physical or mental impairment or impairments which result in marked and severe functional limitations and the impairment(s) has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of at least 12 months or be expected to result in death.
To satisfy the first prong of the criteria, that a child must have a medically determinable physical or mental impairment or impairments which result in marked and severe functional limitations, the child’s impairments can either: (i) meet or medically equal any listing or, (ii) if a child’s severe impairment or combination of impairments do not meet or medically equal a listing, the impairment or combination of impairments result in limitations that functionally equal the listings. “Functionally equal the listings” means that the child’s impairments must result in “marked” limitations in two domains of functioning or an “extreme” limitation in one domain. There are six domains of functioning: (i) Acquiring and using information; (ii) Attending and completing tasks; (iii) Interacting and relating with others; (iv) Moving about and manipulating objects; (v) Caring for yourself; and, (vi) Health and physical well-being.
How can having a lawyer help get SSI for a child?
Applying for SSI for a child can be a lengthy and complicated process which could cause frustration to the parent/guardian applying on behalf of the disabled child. To show that a child meets or medically equals a listing, or functionally equals a listing, there potentially could be a lot of evidence that needs to be gathered and submitted and paperwork to file. Additionally, the procedural aspects of applying for SSI for a child need to be adhered to. This is on top of dealing with ordinary life stresses and caring for a child with disabilities. Having an attorney assist you with a child’s SSI claim is having someone who will do much of the work for the parent/guardian and keeping the parent/guardian informed at each step as the claim progresses. Additionally, an attorney can represent a child at their hearing.
