This Massachusetts bill would permanently protect benefits due to foster kids

Yahoo

15-05-2025

BOSTON (SHNS) – Children's attorneys and disability advocates are trying to reignite their push to safeguard benefits that are owed to foster kids but were previously diverted to state coffers.
The Department of Children and Families last year ended the practice of depositing certain benefits — including Social Security and veterans benefits intended for foster children whose parents had died or became disabled — into the state's General Fund, Sen. Jo Comerford said.
The state used to take about 90% of the benefits each year, which Comerford said translated into nearly $5.5 million that was meant for roughly 600 foster kids. Advocates say the approach disproportionately harmed children of color and LGBTQ youth, who could have used the money to cover certain expenses while in foster care or to gain financial stability after aging out of the system.
'DCF, again, has taken the right steps, and I commend the Healey-Driscoll administration to fulfill its fiduciary responsibilities to manage state resources in the best interests of foster children,' Comerford said at a committee hearing on Tuesday. 'While this is incredibly meaningful for youth who are currently being served by the foster care system, again we must codify these DCF directives into state law to protect vulnerable children from the unpredictability of future administrations and budgets.'
Comerford and Rep. Tricia Farley-Bouvier refiled bills (S 105 / H 227) to ensure the state conserves benefits for foster children. Under the bill, DCF would be required to offer financial literacy training to children beginning at age 14, and provide updates on benefit accounts that the state is managing for foster children.
A redrafted proposal (H 4704) last session cleared the Joint Committee on Children, Families and Persons with Disabilities in early June before dying in the House Ways and Means Committee.
Protecting Social Security benefits preserves foster children's 'humanity and dignity,' said Alexis Williams Torrey, co-director of strategic advocacy at the Children's Law Center of Massachusetts.
She said her clients in foster care have used benefits to buy 'modest items,' such as noise-canceling headphones and their preferred feminine hygiene products. Young adult clients also have more capacity to plan for their future, since those benefits can help them cover rent or a security deposit, she said.
'My clients understand that this money was always their money and don't want other young adults to feel the same insecurity that they have felt,' Williams Torrey said.
Rick Glassman, former director of advocacy at the Disability Law Center who retired last year, said the bill has 'essentially no opposition,' after lawmakers, state officials and advocates worked to refine it last session.
'This is fair because parents pay into the Social Security system knowing that [if] they pass away or they become disabled, their kids will have financial support. And SSI benefits are given because the federal government understands that even with Medicaid, there are additional expenses to being disabled and to becoming economically self-sufficient,' Glassman said.
Individuals exiting foster care are at heightened risk of negative outcomes, he said, including experiencing homelessness or unemployment.
'We're better off to conserve these benefits, not inflict unnecessary pain and trauma, and not pay increased costs for human services at the back end,' Glassman added.
DCF so far has opened more than 800 accounts to support the various benefits available to foster children, including survivor and disability benefits, said Linda Landry, senior attorney at the Disability Law Center.
The legislation is a 'moral' issue, said James Mackey, associate director of government relations and policy at youth empowerment nonprofit More Than Words.
'There's broad bipartisan support for this bill,' Mackey said. 'The youth we work with are watching, and they deserve to know that the commonwealth is willing to do what's right — not just what's routine. By passing these bills, you send a powerful message that foster children are not a burden.'
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