two kids on SSI benefits?

MrsCobraBubbles

Life's too short to wear pants all the time
Joined
Jul 24, 2013
My son is on the autism spectrum and receives SSI. His therapist knows a bit about my finances and has said that I should apply for SSI for my daughter too (she was diagnosed with ADHD last year). Does anyone have experience with this? I work full time, 35 hours per week in an elementary school, but because of some weird union crap I don't get medical benefits. With both children on SSI I would not have to worry about medical for them.

I'm wondering about people's experiences with SSI for ADHD, and with having multiple children in the household receiving it.
 
I don't know about the criteria for adhd for ssi but when I worked for social services I saw many households that had multiple disabled children receiving individual ssi benefits. if you meet the income/asset criteria for your son to receive ssi then if your dd meets the medical criteria she would be income/asset eligible as well.

THAT SAID-if health insurance for your dd is the need, and you meet the income/asset criteria for your child to receive ssi then in all likelihood you may well meet the criteria for whatever your state's version of Medicaid is. you might want to give your local social and health services department a call-some even have 'do I qualify' applications on their websites where you can plug in your information and see what programs you're eligible to (and having a link within the household with one child already on ssi can sometimes create automatic eligibility to a wealth of programs and services for other household minor children-I know the free lunch program in some states is automatically granted to all kids if just one in the household gets ssi).
 
I don't know about the criteria for adhd for ssi but when I worked for social services I saw many households that had multiple disabled children receiving individual ssi benefits. if you meet the income/asset criteria for your son to receive ssi then if your dd meets the medical criteria she would be income/asset eligible as well.

THAT SAID-if health insurance for your dd is the need, and you meet the income/asset criteria for your child to receive ssi then in all likelihood you may well meet the criteria for whatever your state's version of Medicaid is. you might want to give your local social and health services department a call-some even have 'do I qualify' applications on their websites where you can plug in your information and see what programs you're eligible to (and having a link within the household with one child already on ssi can sometimes create automatic eligibility to a wealth of programs and services for other household minor children-I know the free lunch program in some states is automatically granted to all kids if just one in the household gets ssi).
THanks :)

I'm going through a divorce and their dad is refusing to help with any of the kids' expenses, that is another reason why my son's therapist suggested getting my daughter on SSI as well. We are struggling financially and unfortunately a good portion of my son's SSI is going toward our living expenses instead of paying for therapeutic programs and activities for him. My daughter does receive medical benefits through the state right now, but I'm about to get a $4 per hour wage bump as part of my union contract and I'm worried that will be enough to disqualify her from the program. And I don't know what I will do then because the pay bump won't improve our situation any if it means I'll be covering more healthcare expenses. In a nutshell, the therapist wants to get both kids on SSI to compensate for their father being unwilling to help support them and to help me get back on my feet. It's a messed up situation and embarrassing, but that's just where I am right now. I'll check out my state's website.
 
With a $4 per hour increase in pay, will that effect SSI's deeming calculations for you son's SSI? Will he get less and/or will it get dropped all together? In years past when I was a case manager for children with disabilities, it was pretty difficult to get a child qualified for SSI benefits solely based on an ADHD diagnosis. If it was approved, it was usually during an appeals process and subsequent hearing, both of which can take a substantial amount of time and effort on your part.
 
With a $4 per hour increase in pay, will that effect SSI's deeming calculations for you son's SSI? Will he get less and/or will it get dropped all together? In years past when I was a case manager for children with disabilities, it was pretty difficult to get a child qualified for SSI benefits solely based on an ADHD diagnosis. If it was approved, it was usually during an appeals process and subsequent hearing, both of which can take a substantial amount of time and effort on your part.
Thanks for your response! Even with a $4/hr increase I'm still not going to be making a huge amount of money. The SSI could go down to almost nothing but I'm more worried about the medical than anything else. I did the math and that extra $4/hr amounts to about what it will cost to insure my daughter and myself--family coverage is right around $500ish per month. So then we are left worse off financially than we started when I was making less money. It's absolutely ridiculous and really upsets me when I think about it too hard. If their dad would simply cover their medical benefits or pay even a couple hundred a month in child support I could make a budget that would work but I can't keep a roof over our heads without help from somewhere. I'm worried that I'm going to end up having to cut my hours at work or find a lower-paying job which is so frustrating! But if I make less money then the SSI goes back up, we go back on medicaid, and I'm eligible for all kinds of help.

The health insurer offers a free service to help low income families on medicaid apply for SSI. That's how my son got it, we didn't qualify financially until after my husband and I separated. The kids and I ended up on medicaid and I was referred to this free legal service to apply for the SSI. His therapist suggested that I simply contact the legal service again. She said that she's never seen a kid with my daughter's type of ADHD get denied if they had a lawyer. My daughter's ADHD is severe, and she is the hyperactive type that is most likely to get benefits.
 
Just putting this out there. If your child qualifies for SSI and you are mostly interested in the medical portion you can also look into the possibility of a Katie Beckett Medicaid waiver, if it is available in your state. It looks at medical need and not at finances for Medicaid eligibility.
 


How can your husband get away with not paying child support? Is he employed?
I’m so sorry you have to deal with this!

It happens frequently. If the husband is out of state, or is self employed, or just doesn't feel like it...they can get away without paying support. The state child support agency can be helpful if the ex is in state and has regular employment, but not otherwise.
 
How can your husband get away with not paying child support? Is he employed?
I’m so sorry you have to deal with this!
Thank you. He is working under the table right now. He told me if I left him he would never pay child support and he has been true to his word. He is a plumber and knows so many people in the trades that he will never run out of under the table work. It feels like forever ago that I made this post, but he has chosen to have no contact with his kids since last September. The whole situation makes me really angry on behalf of my children, and ashamed that I married someone like this.
 
It doesn't cost anything to apply. I personally don't find the application, appeals process, or even hearing, that big of a deal. It's pretty easy, just a waiting game more than anything. There is no reason not to apply. I know that the child is entitled to Medicaid during the application and appeals process, but not sure what happens if the outcome is ultimately denial. It may have to be paid back, or may not. I have never experienced a final denial, so not sure, but check into that first.

Also, the criteria for a child to receive SSI is not diagnosis based. It's based on if the child is able to participate in normal things for a child of that age such as sports, clubs, friendships, outings, etc.
 
I don't know about the criteria for adhd for ssi but when I worked for social services I saw many households that had multiple disabled children receiving individual ssi benefits. if you meet the income/asset criteria for your son to receive ssi then if your dd meets the medical criteria she would be income/asset eligible as well.

THAT SAID-if health insurance for your dd is the need, and you meet the income/asset criteria for your child to receive ssi then in all likelihood you may well meet the criteria for whatever your state's version of Medicaid is. you might want to give your local social and health services department a call-some even have 'do I qualify' applications on their websites where you can plug in your information and see what programs you're eligible to (and having a link within the household with one child already on ssi can sometimes create automatic eligibility to a wealth of programs and services for other household minor children-I know the free lunch program in some states is automatically granted to all kids if just one in the household gets ssi).
So, after my $4/hour raise we were put into a phase-out program for medicaid. We will be on medicaid for the next year, then my understanding is that it will go away. My daughter will surely qualify for CHIP since at my higher pay rate I am still making under $20,000 per year, so I guess that's an option.
 
THanks :)

I'm going through a divorce and their dad is refusing to help with any of the kids' expenses, that is another reason why my son's therapist suggested getting my daughter on SSI as well. We are struggling financially and unfortunately a good portion of my son's SSI is going toward our living expenses instead of paying for therapeutic programs and activities for him. My daughter does receive medical benefits through the state right now, but I'm about to get a $4 per hour wage bump as part of my union contract and I'm worried that will be enough to disqualify her from the program. And I don't know what I will do then because the pay bump won't improve our situation any if it means I'll be covering more healthcare expenses. In a nutshell, the therapist wants to get both kids on SSI to compensate for their father being unwilling to help support them and to help me get back on my feet. It's a messed up situation and embarrassing, but that's just where I am right now. I'll check out my state's website.

That's not what SSi is for - to cover deadbeat dads. That therapist should lose her license, and the least you should do is report her.

Thank you. He is working under the table right now. He told me if I left him he would never pay child support and he has been true to his word. He is a plumber and knows so many people in the trades that he will never run out of under the table work. It feels like forever ago that I made this post, but he has chosen to have no contact with his kids since last September. The whole situation makes me really angry on behalf of my children, and ashamed that I married someone like this.

Report him to the state, report his employer.
 
That's not what SSi is for - to cover deadbeat dads. That therapist should lose her license, and the least you should do is report her.



Report him to the state, report his employer.

I understand where you are coming from, but SSI is a needs-based program. It's based on income and without any financial help from my ex, my income is crap. So that kind of is what SSI is for.

As I said, he is working under the table, there's nothing for me to report. On paper, he is unemployed. He's not stupid, I'm sure he has covered his tracks and the only way to prove that he is actually working would be to hire a PI, which is not going to be a good use of my limited funds because "proving" that he is working under the table doesn't accomplish much. Do you really think his employer or employers is/are going to risk their business by freely admitting that they are breaking the law and paying my ex under the table? So I spend $1,000 on a PI, and then pay a lawyer more thousands of dollars to fight a losing battle in court. He's showing no income so they can't attach his wages. They can't force him to work. There is no debtor's prison. The worst a family court judge can do is to call him out for being a loser deadbeat dad, which he seems to be proud of.

I would bet that he is laundering his income through his roomate or his mother. He's not dumb, just a deadbeat. The situation is incredibly frustrating but I have to accept that I don't have any power over this situation, or over his decisions or his money.

I met with a layer and the advice they gave me was that my cheapest option is to do nothing. To allow him to continue to be a deadbeat. He gets to keep every cent of his beloved money and I get the kids. Seems like a fair deal to me, though my kids are the losers in this scenario--all because 18 years ago I made the poor choice to marry a loser.
 
Last edited:
We live in Illinois. My daughter with Down syndrome qualified for SSI at age 18 a an adult because she had no income. We didn’t apply while she was younger because we make more than enough money. The proof of disability for her was a simple form signed by her doctor and proof that we had been appointed legal guardian. She also eligible for Medicaid on her own but we never used it because she was covered under my policy through work and the doctors were not very good. Now that my husband started social security she automatically qualified for social security disability equal to 50% of my husband’s benefit. And two years after SS started she became eligible for Medicare. Again proof of disability was a simple dr certificate.

As for your ex husband if I were you, I would sic the IRS on him. They might be interested in how he supports himself. So called men like him are a disgrace. Hopefully the children realize they have done nothing wrong and that he is just a bad person who doesn’t deserve to be called father.
 
We live in Illinois. My daughter with Down syndrome qualified for SSI at age 18 a an adult because she had no income. We didn’t apply while she was younger because we make more than enough money. The proof of disability for her was a simple form signed by her doctor and proof that we had been appointed legal guardian. She also eligible for Medicaid on her own but we never used it because she was covered under my policy through work and the doctors were not very good. Now that my husband started social security she automatically qualified for social security disability equal to 50% of my husband’s benefit. And two years after SS started she became eligible for Medicare. Again proof of disability was a simple dr certificate.

As for your ex husband if I were you, I would sic the IRS on him. They might be interested in how he supports himself. So called men like him are a disgrace. Hopefully the children realize they have done nothing wrong and that he is just a bad person who doesn’t deserve to be called father.

Thanks for your reply. I really can't report him to anyone. It is not mentioned in the original post, but my ex husband was abusive toward me for most of our marriage. Unfortunately I accepted that as the life I chose, until he turned his anger on our autistic, then-13-year-old son. I came home from a meeting at school to find my son bruised and crying in his bedroom closet, I took the kids and left the next day. I actually do have some proof of what he is doing--screenshots of text messages that he sent me, and some pics pulled off his friend's facebook page. But it is really hard to thing to prove in court and like I said, a judge can't attach wages when there aren't any. I also never documented any of his abuse toward me so it's my word against his. I'm afraid that he will know it was me that turned him in and it will only provoke him. We still live in the same smallish town. He knows exactly where the kids and I are at all times and could easily get to us. If I lay low he has no reason to interact with us. I don't care about making him pay, I only want to raise my kids in peace. My son is 15 now and hit a growth spurt, he's now 2 inches taller than his dad and says he's not scared of him anymore, but my daughter is still young and I worry for her. What if I fight him in court and he is ordered partial custody? It may be cowardly, but right now my best option is to lay low.
 
Last edited:
How can your husband get away with not paying child support? Is he employed?
I’m so sorry you have to deal with this!
This is very easy, actually, as there are a lot of creative ways to get around child support. My ex used to have a good job, but quit upon marrying his current spouse, so technically he has no income (though he makes money from rent paid to him on another property he owns, and I suspect he gets disability benefits from the government). He lives in a 3-story house with his wife, pays next to nothing to me in support, while I work full time and shoulder most of the costs for our autistic son. He has never been interested in paying for all of the treatments that have helped our son so much.

Yeah, the family court system in our country really stinks. There are so many loopholes, so much of it requires parents to have the money to hire a good lawyer, and in the end a lot of it is about the personality/politics of the particular judge you're assigned to.
 
I met with a lawyer and the advice they gave me was that my cheapest option is to do nothing. To allow him to continue to be a deadbeat. He gets to keep every cent of his beloved money and I get the kids.
I am so sorry about what you've been through. Based on my experiences in family court with an emotionally-abusive ex, I agree with the lawyer you spoke to. Your ex will just find ways to hurt you more if you take him to court. The family court system is a briar patch for abusers, because few judges will believe the abuse without thorough documentation (which rarely exists) & even if they do, the legal premise is that the guy abused you, not the kids, so he still has 50% of the rights over the child (whether he pays any support or not). And on top of that, you're dealing with a very manipulative person who will weasel his way out of paying support.

In my case, I had no choice but to go to court, as my ex's wife is a Canadian citizen and they were about to take my son to Canada for a "visit", so I had to get a legal injunction limiting the duration of the international travel, which required a subsequent court case. But as long as your ex seems unlikely to try a move like that, I recommend accepting the status quo. What you've got now is probably much better than what you'd get after a costly & frustrating legal battle.
 
Last edited:

GET A DISNEY VACATION QUOTE

Dreams Unlimited Travel is committed to providing you with the very best vacation planning experience possible. Our Vacation Planners are experts and will share their honest advice to help you have a magical vacation.

Let us help you with your next Disney Vacation!





Top