California Governor Gavin Newsom has signed a new bill that would protect Social Security benefits for tens of thousands of residents in the state.
By signing AB 2906 into law on Thursday, Newsom will now ensure that Social Security survivor benefits go to the foster youth they are intended for.
Under the new bill, it would now be required for foster youth and their legal guardians be notified if anyone is applying as a payee of Social Security survivor benefits. For years, these benefits were intercepted by the state despite being intended for foster children when they turn 18. The bill passed unanimously in the state legislature before it went to Newsom’s desk last month.
Newsweek has reached out to the Social Security Administration and Newsom via email for comment.
While Newsom vetoed a similar legislation last year that included both foster youth survivor and disability benefits, the pressure from the public may have pushed him to approve the bill this time around.
Around 70 California judges signed a letter asking the governor to sign the bill earlier this month, and both the Los Angeles and San Diego Boards of Supervisors approved of the law.
“For some of California’s foster children, having access to these previously pilfered assets may be the difference between aging out of care into homelessness or with a roof over their heads,” Amy Harfeld, national policy director at the Children’s Advocacy Institute at the University of San Diego School of Law (CAI), said in a statement. “We are grateful for Governor Newsom placing California among the growing number of states that are acting to end this shameful practice while helping address California’s homeless challenge to boot.”
Somewhere between 40,000 and 80,000 children in California are eligible for Social Security benefits, but they often face poverty or outright homelessness after reaching 18 years of age. Between the ages of 19 and 21, 29 percent of former foster youth experienced homelessness, according to the Children’s Advocacy Institute.
California Governor Gavin Newsom is seen on August 19 in Chicago. Newsom recently passed a new bill that protects Social Security benefits for foster youth.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
The payments they were owed could have prevented this, but for years, California counties would divert the Social Security benefits into their own funds.
While federal law requires county foster care agencies to put the best interests of foster children first regarding the Social Security money, counties have been sidestepping these requirements without consulting the children set to receive the benefits.
Previously in California, counties could apply for foster kids’ benefits without telling the child or their representative, and a judge was not required to oversee the child’s care.
Foster children qualify for Social Security if they either have a disability or had a parent pay a certain amount of money into the Social Security system before retiring, becoming disabled or dying. But due to prior rules, many never saw the money they were owed.
“These funds amount to a rounding error for counties,” said Robert Fellmeth, founder and executive director of the Children’s Advocacy Institute, in a statement. “For eligible foster youth, having access to their money could mean an entirely different life, one in which they have a real shot at stable housing, food security, transportation, and education.”
California is one of many states that are looking to create more substantial protections for these foster kids’ Social Security payments.
As of this summer, 30 states and jurisdictions have taken action to protect foster youth benefits. Arizona, Washington, D.C., Oregon and Massachusetts have abolished holding payments from foster system beneficiaries entirely.
“The push Governor Newsom and other lawmakers are in California are making to cover this often-neglected group mimics what we’ve seen in some other states,” Alex Beene, a financial literacy instructor for the University of Tennessee at Martin, told Newsweek.
He added: “Those who find themselves as beneficiaries of Social Security under foster care survivor status aren’t often mentioned when we speak about protecting Social Security benefits in general, but they are a subgroup that is overlooked and one that heavily relies on this funding. The passing of this bill would be pivotal in making sure they are financially supported through the system for the years to come in a meaningful way.”
