Care now locations12/3/2023 Just days after that legislative hearing in New Mexico, Casados says her department "sent out a directive to cease using those funds for care and support." It pledged to start putting aside the Social Security benefits checks for foster children to have when they go back to their families or age out of foster care.Ĭasados says saving that money and teaching youths how to manage it is important: "This could be really life changing for some of these kids," she said. Another Social Security program, Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, pays a stipend to disabled children and adults. A child whose mother or father has died is eligible for survivors benefits, intended to replace some of the lost wages of the deceased parent. "When we got back, we looked into it and found out it was a practice that the agency had for using those benefits - and had been going on for quite some time."Ībout 10% to 20% of children and youths in foster care are thought to be eligible for Social Security benefits. "That can't be a practice that we're doing."Ĭasados and her chief legal counsel drove back to the office. "My reaction really was: That can't be right," said Casados, who in the spring took over as acting secretary of New Mexico's Children, Youth & Families Department. At a legislative hearing in July, a lawmaker asked her if the state was taking the Social Security checks of kids in foster care - the checks intended for orphans and disabled children. To Teresa Casados, who runs the department in charge of child welfare in New Mexico, it seemed like an odd question. She discovered the state had been taking the Social Security checks of children in foster care - children who got the benefits because they were orphaned or disabled.Ĭhildren, Youth & Families Department/State of New Mexico Teresa Casados runs New Mexico's Children, Youth & Families Department.
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