SOCIAL SECURITY REPRESENTATIVE PAYEES
An ABA publication on best practices for Social Security administration representative payments on behalf of kids in the child welfare and juvenile justice systems.
More than 3.7 million American children have representative payees managing their Social Security benefits. Many of these children are involved with child welfare and juvenile justice systems. The ABA Center on Children and the Law, in partnership with the ABA Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly, published in June 2001 materials by Daniel L. Skoler to help attorneys and judges better understand the complexity of Social Security Representative Payee issues and appropriately aid children involved with the juvenile court by assuring the proper preservation and use of the benefits managed by the Payee on behalf of the child. A 59-page training curriculum on the subject (principally written for juvenile court judges) can be obtained for free from the ABA Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly, 740 15th Street, NW, Washington, DC 20005.
The Center has co-produced, in collaboration with the ABA Commission on Legal Problems of the Elderly, a briefing/best practices pamphlet for juvenile and family courts entitled Representative Payment and Kids, together with a 2-hour model training curriculum to educate judicial personnel on this little-known topic. Made possible by a grant from the State Justice Institute, this material is intended to enhance coordination and mutual assistance between state court systems and the Social Security Administration’s Representative Payment Program. An estimated 3.7 million children have “representative payees” managing Social Security payment benefits for them, and a significant number of such children are involved in the juvenile/family court system. These materials are the first written to aid judges and lawyers in understanding how the SSA representative payee system affects court-related responsibilities to children.
Click here to download the best practices pamplet.
