Social Security 2023: Benefits and Payments Are Not Only for Old People, Children Qualify Too - Here's How

The Social Security Administration released Social Security benefits worth $2.8 billion to four million children in 2021. Those children have one or both parents, who were retired, deceased, or disabled.

Social Security payments include children in its program scheme to help retirees with younger children provide for their families while being a form of insurance when a parent dies or cannot work due to a disability.

There are some eligibility standards for your child to be qualified to receive Social Security benefits.

Children Qualifying For Social Security Payments

A child must have either parent retired or has a disability and is entitled to Social Security benefits to get the payments.

Children with a parent who died having worked long enough in a job where they paid Social Security taxes can also qualify for the benefits.

Unmarried children can also get benefits if they are younger than age 18, between ages 18 and 19, and full-time students at an elementary or secondary school.

They can also be age 18 or older with a disability that began before age 22 to qualify for the Social Security payments.

In some circumstances, the Social Security Administration can also hand out Social Security payments to a stepchild, a grandchild, a step-grandchild, or an adopted child.

Social Security beneficiaries' children can collect up to half of the parent's primary insurance amount.

Survivor benefits for children can be up to 75% of a late parent's monthly benefit. Children of deceased workers account for two-thirds of those getting beneficiaries.

Children with disability can also receive benefits that are payable beyond age 18 if the disability started before age 22.

To apply your child for Social Security benefits, your child's birth certificate or proof of birth or adoption is required. In addition, the child's proof of citizenship must also be presented.

Other documents that will be required include tax returns to check if the child had earnings last year, as well as parents' proof of marriage if they are your stepchild. If the parent has passed away, proof of death may be required.

Social Security 2023

The Social Security Administration will distribute the largest Social Security payment increase in more than 40 years throughout January.

An average of the additional $140 per month will be issued to SSA beneficiaries. The administration noted that the Social Security and Supplemental Security Income benefits increased for approximately 70 million Americans.

The 2022 Trustees Report showed that Social Security had an estimated $20.4 trillion funding shortfall through 2096. Since 1985, the Trustees Report has projected a long-term funding shortfall.

Meanwhile, policy experts and politicians want to change the way the agency calculates the cost-of-living adjustments (COLA).

COLA is currently based on changes in the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers.

Policy experts and lawmakers wanted to use the Consumer Price Index for the Elderly as a better measure of how inflation affects seniors.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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