Lawmakers, Shapiro admin push to end practice of counties taking Social Security money owed to foster kids

No need to apologize, this system is convoluted, so the confusion makes sense. I think to best answer your question, you first need to understand that foster agencies either by their own departments or often using outsource companies apply for benefits in a child’s name once they enter state custody. In theory, if a child in their care is eligible for any social security benefits (survivors, disability, etc) relatives should be notified so someone can serve as a representative payee, but that part frequently doesn’t happen & there’s little oversight. As a result, many children don’t even know they were eligible for benefits until they age out. As for lump sums, there generally isn’t one…it depends on specific state laws. Historically, most states don’t do that, though a few have started making changes regarding creating trust funds (will address in later part of my comment). The only lump sum that was retroactive I believe the article mentions one kid from alaska who had his survivor benefits taken after becoming an orphan, but laws regarding payouts like this weren’t on the books yet in Alaska to my knowledge - which my personal feelings (which may not be correct tbf) is that I kinda wonder if the state got enough pushback that they were pressured into paying him what he was owed because they realized they messed up when his story started getting picked up by NPR) Some states (I don’t know how many, but I am pretty sure it is very few) now place a child’s survivor benefits or social security/disability into a trust if there’s no representative payee, allowing access when they age out. It’s an improvement, but not widely adopted, and it also doesn’t address past cases which means people like me who effectively paid for our own foster care without our knowledge or our choice aren’t compensated either.