03-04-2025
Foster care agencies in Pennsylvania took millions owed to kids in their care, often keeping them in the dark
Spotlight PA is an independent, nonpartisan, and nonprofit newsroom producing investigative and public-service journalism that holds power to account and drives positive change in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our free newsletters.
Counties across Pennsylvania are taking millions of dollars in Social Security benefits owed to kids in foster care, a practice some child advocates equate to stealing.
These local agencies contend the practice is allowed under law and needed to offset the cost of care. But it's often done without a child's knowledge and how some counties use the money is unclear.
'This money belongs to these kids,' said state Rep. Rick Krajewski (D., Philadelphia,) who last year introduced a bipartisan bill with Rep. Sheryl Delozier (R., Cumberland) that would tighten regulations on how counties can use the money.
When a child is owed Social Security benefits, federal rules mandate the money goes to their designated guardian to help support the kid's care, or into a savings account they receive when they turn 18. But if the child is in foster care, child welfare agencies often take the money without telling them or their advocate.
Since 2020, at least 1,300 children in Pennsylvania have had money taken from them this way, to the tune of at least $15.7 million, according to a Resolve Philly and Spotlight PA analysis of four years of data obtained from 47 counties.
The statewide total could be considerably higher, as varying recordkeeping and public disclosure practices make it difficult for data obtained from the other 20 counties to be analyzed. The benefits can add up to thousands of dollars per child — money that, once they age out of foster care, could ease that transition by paying for groceries, rent, tuition, or medical treatment.
'No other group is being forced to pay their own way like this,' said U.S. Rep. Danny Davis, (D., Ill.), who has proposed a bill that would end the practice nationwide. 'And this is a vulnerable population that would find a little nest egg like this life-changing.'
The Resolve Philly and Spotlight PA investigation also found:
Nearly every county in the state took Social Security money intended for children in their care.
More than a quarter of the agencies did not prove the money they received for specific children was actually spent on those kids.
Only five counties in the state proved they directly notified foster care youth or their families that the county was taking the money.
Across the country, efforts to stop foster care agencies from spending all the money before kids can use it themselves are gaining momentum. Arizona, Kansas, Maryland, Massachusetts, Oregon, and Washington, D.C., all have made changes in recent years to limit or end the practice.
Local government agencies, however, argue they need the money to compensate themselves for the cost of room, board, and other services they are required to provide as foster care agencies. At least one Pennsylvania lawmaker has expressed concern about creating a 'windfall' for kids when they age out of the system.
In Philadelphia, the city's Department of Human Services says it now sends letters to notify children's advocates that the county plans to take their Social Security benefits, following a Resolve Philly and Philadelphia Inquirer report that prompted a new law from the city council in 2022.
In response to questions and findings from Spotlight PA and Resolve Philly, a spokesperson for the federal Social Security Administration (SSA) said that the agency follows a process to 'ensure a payee is suitable.' The SSA did not have readily available data on how many Pennsylvania counties send in the required reports about how they use the money.
Under federal law, states must pay for foster care services, which are typically funded by a mix of state, local, and federal dollars. Children are not required to reimburse these agencies for their time in foster care.
But state and county child welfare systems nationwide and throughout Pennsylvania routinely take children's Social Security money to offset costs.
Kids can be eligible for Social Security benefits for two reasons: their own disability or financial need, or if a parent or guardian has paid enough money into Social Security before retiring, becoming disabled, or dying.
This 'survivors' money, as it's usually called, legally belongs to the child and is intended to help them when a parent or guardian can no longer provide for them, according to the SSA. However, until they turn 18 and can manage their own finances, the federal agency sends the money to what it calls a legal 'representative payee.'
The SSA allows foster care agencies to use that money to pay for monthly 'maintenance' and any unmet needs, then requires whatever remains to be set aside.
Child advocates argue federal law places the cost of this care on states, and also point to a 2003 federal court decision that ruled children in foster care owe no debt for the services they receive.
According to an expert familiar with the process, Pennsylvania, foster care agencies typically screen children's records to find those who are eligible for Social Security benefits and then apply to become that payee.
Such financial representatives are legally required to act in the best interests of the children, and to pay for any unmet needs of food, shelter, medical care, and comfort.
The SSA's guidelines list family and even close friends as preferred payees for these benefits, with government agencies as a last resort. However, if the agency is listed as a legal guardian in a court order, which is often the case, the agency becomes the first choice to receive a child's benefits.
Even in those cases, the SSA told the newsrooms it tries to find a willing relative or friend if one is available. But the SSA said it often cannot find them. The relatives and guardians that the SSA misses are often unaware the money is available.
The end result?
Nearly 75% of children in foster care who are eligible for these benefits have a child welfare agency chosen to receive the money, according to a November 2024 SSA document.
Advocates have long decried this practice of harvesting money from children, calling it at best a clear conflict of interest.
'How can a representative payee act in a child's best interests by taking money from them for services the government pays for?' said Daniel Hatcher, a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law.
From 2020 through 2023, 44 of 47 Pennsylvania agencies reviewed by Resolve Philly and Spotlight PA collected Social Security benefits (and some other benefits) for foster youth. The amount of money received by counties varied widely: in one year, Forest County received $970 — while in a different year — Philadelphia received nearly $1 million.
While local foster care agencies go through the SSA's process to receive these benefits, many had trouble providing details to reporters about how the funds were used.
Almost a quarter of the state's agencies did not provide proof to Resolve Philly and Spotlight PA that they conduct individual accounting of the benefits.
Just four counties — Butler, Clarion, Huntingdon, and Wayne — produced the spending reports they must send to the SSA. These reports outline the total amount of money received and how much was spent on different categories like food and housing.
Other counties, such as Adams and Allegheny, provided other detailed records showing line-item expenses for foster youth like counseling, independent living expenses, and birthday gifts. In response to Resolve Philly and Spotlight PA's findings, an Allegheny County Department of Human Services spokesperson said that 'the vast majority of the funds are used to pay a foster family to care for the child.'
In contrast, Philadelphia's Department of Human Services provided only records of bulk deposits of SSA benefits into the city's $6 billion general fund. The data could not show how many children it collects money for or how it spends those funds.
Via an email sent to reporters in 2023 as part of the initial investigation, a Philadelphia spokesperson said the city's collection of this money is 'lawful' and that it goes toward the cost of care.
If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to Spotlight PA at Spotlight PA is funded by foundations and readers like you who are committed to accountability journalism that gets results.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
