The makeup of American families has changed in the last 20 to 30 years. Today, family units are diverse, rich in culture, and may include two parents, same-sex parents, only one parent, grandparents, and other relatives. Social Security knows that whether single parent, blended, diverse, small or large, every family is important.
For more than 80 years, Social Security has helped families secure today and tomorrow by providing financial benefits, tools, and programs that help support millions throughout life’s journey. Our programs and services have evolved to meet your unique family needs and especially the children in your care.
Getting your child a Social Security number should be near the top of the list of things you need to do as a new parent or guardian. Your child's Social Security number is the first step in ensuring valuable protection for any benefits they may be eligible for in the future.
You’ll need your child’s Social Security number to claim them as a dependent on your income tax return or open a bank account in the child’s name and buy savings bonds. Your child’s Social Security number is also necessary to obtain medical coverage or apply for any kind of government services for your child.
Most people apply for their child’s Social Security number at birth, usually at the hospital. When the time comes for your child’s first job, the number is already in place. For more information on getting your child a Social Security number and card, check out Social Security Numbers for Children.
A fun bonus of assigning Social Security numbers at birth is that we know the most popular baby names, which we announce each year. On our website, you can find the top baby names for the last 100 years.
More and more grandparents are finding themselves raising their grandchildren. Social Security will pay benefits to grandchildren when the grandparent retires, becomes disabled, or dies, if certain conditions are met. Generally, the biological parents of the child must be deceased or disabled, or the grandparent must legally adopt the grandchild.
To receive this benefit, your grandchild must have begun living with you before age 18 and received at least one half of his or her support from you for the year before the month you became entitled to retirement or disability insurance benefits, or died. Also, the natural parent(s) of the child must not be making regular contributions to his or her support.
If your grandchild was born during the one-year period, you must have lived with and provided at least one-half of the child's support for substantially the entire period from the date of birth to the month you became entitled to benefits.
Your grandchild may be eligible for benefits under these circumstances, even if he or she is a step-grandchild. However, if you and your spouse are already receiving benefits, you would need to adopt the child for them to be eligible for benefits.
Once your child starts working and throughout their career, employers will verify their Social Security number to help reduce fraud and improve the accuracy of their earnings records.
Employers collect FICA, or Federal Insurance Contributions Act withholdings, and report earnings electronically. This is how we verify earnings and is how your child earns Social Security retirement, disability, and survivors coverage.
Once they turn 18, they can open a my Social Security account and watch their personal earnings and future benefits grow over time.
As a working parent, your earnings can become a source of Social Security protection for your family. If you retire or become disabled and unable to work, your earnings would be partially replaced by your monthly Social Security benefit payments.
A child who is disabled may depend on your help for a lifetime. When you start receiving Social Security retirement or disability benefits, your family members also may be eligible for payments. If you are a parent, caregiver, or representative of a child younger than age 18 who has a disability, your child may be eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) payments. More information is provided in the Benefits for Children with Disabilities booklet.
For children 18 years or older who have been disabled before the age of 22 and continue to be disabled, Social Security benefits may be paid to them if you retire, become disabled, or die. Social Security benefits for disabled children may continue as long as they are unable to work because of their disability.
Additionally, you can find information on the specific benefits and qualifications in the Disability Benefits publication.
The loss of a parent or guardian can be both emotionally and financially difficult. Social Security helps by providing benefits to help stabilize the family’s financial future. Widows, widowers, and their dependent children may be eligible for Social Security survivors benefits.
In fact, 98 of every 100 children could get benefits if a working parent dies. And Social Security pays more benefits to children than any other federal program.
Providing protection for parents too…
Even if you have never worked in a job covered by Social Security, as a parent, there are two ways that you may still be eligible for benefits.
The Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program helps children with qualifying disabilities by providing critical financial assistance. Children and youth with specific medical conditions—whose families meet certain income and resource limits—can receive SSI from birth until age 18.
If you think your child or someone you know could be eligible for SSI, visit our webpage SSI Eligibility for Children to learn more and apply.
Assisting Youths with Disabilities Transition to Adulthood
The transition to adulthood is one of the most important periods in life’s journey. For foster children living with a disability, it can be even more challenging. Turning 18 triggers an important change in SSI benefits: Social Security must make a new determination on their SSI eligibility using the adult disability standards. About one-in-three such beneficiaries lose their SSI benefits.
For more information, please visit our spotlight page.
Getting your child a Social Security number should be near the top of the list of things you need to do as a new parent. Your child's Social Security number is just the beginning of the valuable protection and benefits he or she may be eligible for in the future. Applying for a Social Security card and number for your newborn is voluntary, but your child needs a Social Security number if you plan to:
You can apply when the baby is born or you can wait until later. It's easy to apply at birth. When you give the information for your baby's birth certificate, you'll be asked if you want to apply for a Social Security number for your baby. If you say "yes," you'll need to provide both parents' Social Security numbers. We'll assign your baby a number and mail the Social Security card directly to you.
If you want to wait to apply for your baby's number, please read Get Or Replace A Social Security Card.
As a working parent, you are a source of Social Security protection for your family. If either parent retires, dies or becomes disabled and unable to work, his or her earnings would be partially replaced by monthly Social Security payments.
When you start receiving Social Security retirement or disability benefits, other family members also may be eligible for payments. For example, benefits can be paid to your spouse:
Benefits also can be paid to your unmarried children if they are:
If you should die, your family may be eligible for benefits based on your work. Family members who can collect benefits include a widow or widower who is:
Your children can receive benefits, too, if they are unmarried and:
In addition, your parents can receive benefits on your earnings if they were dependent on you for at least half of their support.
If you had enough credits, a one-time payment of $255 also will be made after your death. This benefit may be paid to your spouse or minor children if they meet certain requirements.
There is a limit to the amount of monthly benefits that can be paid to a family. The limit is generally equal to about 150 to 180 percent of the worker's benefit rate. If the sum of the benefits payable to family members exceeds this limit, the benefits will be reduced proportionately for each family member.
How Much Work You Need For Benefits For Your Children The amount of work you need to be eiligible for Social Security benefits depends on how old you are when you retire, become disabled or die. The younger you are, the less work you need.
Parents under age 24 need as little as one and one-half years of work under Social Security for their children to receive Social Security benefits. The amount of work needed increases with age, but you would not need more than 10 years of work to be covered for all benefits.
Career And Homemaking
If you alternate between a career and homemaking, you need to be aware that you can maintain your full Social Security protection with a little attention. Any Social Security credits you earn remain on your record, and after ten years of work in which you have earned the maximum of four credits each year, you are fully covered for retirement, disability, and survivors benefits.
Disability Benefits
For disability benefits, you also need to have recent work. For example, if you're over age 30, you need five years of work out of the last 10 years (20 credits). Younger workers need less, as little as year and a half of work out of the past three years. Thus, homemakers need to periodically check their recent work status to make sure they still meet the requirements for the valuable disability protection.
More and more parents are finding themselves raising grandchildren. Social Security will pay benefits to grandchildren when the grandparent retires, becomes disabled, or dies if certain conditions are met. Generally, the biological parents of the child must be deceased or disabled, or the grandchild must be legally adopted by the grandparent.
In addition, the grandchild must have begun living with the grandparent before age 18 and received at least one half of his or her support from the grandparent for the year before the month the grandparent became entitled to retirement or disability insurance benefits, or died. Also, the natural parent(s) of the child must not be making regular contributions to his or her support.
If the grandchild was born during the one-year period, the grandparent must have lived with and provided at least one-half of the child's support for substantially all of the period from the date of birth to the month the grandparent became entitled to benefits.
The grandchild may be eilgible for benefits under these circumstances, even if he or she is a step-grandchild. However, if the grandparents are already receiving benefits, they would need to adopt the child for it to be eligible for benefits.
A child who is disabled may depend on your help for a lifetime. Social Security has two programs that pay benefits to disabled children:
Social Security makes payment under the SSI program to disabled children under 18 whose families have little income and resources. SSI payments are based on need rather than prior work and may be paid to children regardless whether a parent is retired, disabled or has died. These benefits also continue as long as the child is disabled and has little income or resources.
A child under 18 is considered disabled if his or her physical or mental condition is so severe that it results in marked and severe functional limitations. The condition must last or be expected to last at least 12 months or be expected to result in the child's death. And of course, the child must not be working at a job that we consider to be substantial work.
Disabled Children 18 Years Or Older
If you retire, become disabled, or die, Social Security benefits may be paid to your children over 18 who have been disabled before the age of 22 and continue to be disabled. Social Security benefits for disabled children may continue as long as they are unable to work because of their disability.
There are two ways parents may be eligible for benefits even if they never worked under Social Security.
Benefits for Parents with Dependent Children
If you have children in your care who receive Social Security benefits and are under age 18, you can receive a benefit until they reach age 16. The child's benefit continues until he or she reaches age 18, or 19 if he or she is still in school full time. Your monthly payments stop with the 16th birthday of your youngest child receiving Social Security benefits, unless the child is disabled and continues in your care.
Dependent Parent's Benefits The second way you may receive a parent's benefit is as an elderly parent of a worker who has died. If your child dies and you are dependent on him or her for more than one half of your support, you can collect a Social Security benefit. Social Security pays monthly benefits to parents on the record of a deceased worker under the following conditions: The parent must be at least 62 years old and must not have remarried since the worker's death; The parent cannot be entitled to his/her own, higher Social Security benefit; The parent must be able to show that he/she was receiving one-half of his/her financial support from the worker at the time of death. This proof of support must be submitted to Social Security within two years of the worker's death.
Social Security helps people help themselves!
People work and give a little money to Social Security. When some people get so sick that they can't work, they get money from Social Security. When people get older and can't work anymore, they can get money from Social Security. When people die, their family can get money from Social Security.
I was trying to get a drink of water, but I couldn't reach the water in the bottom of the pitcher. I dropped stones in the pitcher to make the water rise to where I could drink it. It was a lot of slow work, but it was worth it in the end.
The Moral of the Story: Little by little does the trick. Social Security helps people to build for the future.
When I saw an ant moving an ear of corn, I invited the ant to stop working so hard and relax with me. The ant said he had to keep working to store for the winter. When winter came all the ants shared the corn they stored and I had no food, so I was very hungry.
The Moral of the Story: We need to prepare for the future. Social Security helps you save for the future.
Social Security is your piggy bank for the future. You save by making payments on part of your pay to Social Security as you work. Later when you can't work Social Security will pay you Social Security checks.
I am red, white and blue. You should have a card with your own special number, which will be the same number for life. Your parents could have gotten you a card when you were born. Ask your parents if they got you a card. If you do not have a card have your parents apply for one for you.
