2020

Benefits for
Children With
Disabilities

SocialSecurity.gov
What’s inside
Introduction 1

Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) payments for
children with disabilities 1

Social Security Disability

Insurance benefits for adults
disabled since childhood 7

Applying for SSI payments or

SSDI benefits and how you
can help 8

Employment support
programs for young people
with disabilities 10

Medicaid and Medicare 12

Children’s Health
Insurance Program 12

Other health care services 13

Contacting Social Security 14

Introduction
This booklet is for the parents,
caregivers, or representatives of
children younger than age 18 who have
disabilities that might make them eligible
for Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
payments. It is also for adults who
became disabled in childhood (prior
to age 22), and who might be entitled
to Social Security Disability Insurance
(SSDI) benefits. (We call this SSDI
benefit a “child’s” benefit because
it’s paid on a parent’s Social Security
earnings record.)
This booklet will help you decide if you,
your child, or a child you know, might be
eligible for SSI or SSDI.

Supplemental Security Income

(SSI) payments for children
with disabilities
SSI makes monthly payments to people
with low income and limited resources
who are 65 or older, or blind, or disabled.
Your child, if younger than age 18, can
qualify if they have a medical condition
or combination of conditions that meets
Social Security’s definition of disability
for children, and if his or her income
and resources fall within the eligibility
limits. The amount of the SSI payment
is different from state to state because
some states add to the SSI payment.
Your local Social Security office can
tell you more about your state’s total
SSI payment.
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SSI rules about income
and resources
We consider your child’s income and
resources when deciding if your child
is eligible for SSI. We also consider the
income and resources of family members
living in the child’s household. These
rules apply if your child lives at home.
They also apply if your child is away at
school but returns home from time to
time and is subject to your control.
If your child’s income and resources,
or the income and resources of family
members living in the child’s household,
are more than the amount allowed,
we will deny the child’s application for
SSI payments.
We limit the monthly SSI payment to $30
when a child is in a medical facility, and
health insurance pays for his or her care.
SSI rules about disability
Your child must meet all of the following
requirements to be considered disabled
and, therefore, medically eligible for SSI:
• The child, who is not blind, must not
be working or earning more than
$1,260 a month in 2020. A child
who is blind must not be working
or earning more than $2,110. (This
earnings amount usually changes
every year.)
• The child must have a medical
condition, or a combination of
conditions, that result in “marked and
severe functional limitations.” This
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 means that the condition(s) must very
seriously limit the child’s activities.
• The child’s condition(s) must have been
disabling, or be expected to be disabling,
for at least 12 months; or the condition(s)
must be expected to result in death.
Providing information about your
child’s condition
When you apply for SSI payments for
your child based on a disability, we will
ask you for detailed information about
the child’s medical condition and about
how it affects the child’s ability to perform
daily activities. We also will ask you to
give permission to the doctors, teachers,
therapists, and other professionals who
have information about your child’s
condition to send the information to us.
If you have any of your child’s medical
or school records, please bring them
with you. This will help speed up the
decision-making process.
What happens next?
We send all of the information you
give us to the Disability Determination
Services office in your state. Doctors and
other trained staff in that state agency
will review the information, and will
request your child’s medical and school
records, and any other information
needed to decide if your child meets our
criteria for disability.
If the state agency can’t make a disability
determination using only the medical
information, school records, and other
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facts they have, they may ask you to
take your child for a medical examination
or test. We will pay for the exam or test.
We may make immediate SSI
payments to your child
The state agency may take three to five
months to decide if your child meets our
criteria for disability. For some medical
conditions, however, we make SSI
payments right away, and for up to six
months, while the state agency decides
if your child has a qualifying disability.
Following are some of the conditions that
may qualify:
• Total blindness.
• Total deafness.
• Cerebral palsy.
• Down syndrome.
• Muscular dystrophy.
• Severe intellectual disability (child age
4 or older).
• Symptomatic HIV infection.
• Birth weight below 2 pounds, 10
ounces — We evaluate low birth
weight in infants from birth to
attainment of age 1 and failure to
thrive in infants and toddlers from
birth to attainment of age 3. We
use the infant’s birth weight as
documented by an original or certified
copy of the infant’s birth certificate
or by a medical record signed by
a physician.

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If your child has one of the qualifying
conditions, they may get SSI payments
right away. If the state agency ultimately
decides that your child’s disability is not
severe enough for SSI, you won’t have
to pay back the SSI payments that your
child got.
SSI disability reviews
After your child starts receiving SSI, the
law requires that we review your child’s
medical condition from time to time to
verify that his or her disability still meets
our criteria. We must do this review:
• At least every three years for
children younger than age 18
whose conditions are expected to
improve; and
• By age 1 for babies who are getting
SSI payments because of their low
birth weight. If we determine their
medical condition isn’t expected to
improve by their first birthday, we may
schedule the review for a later date.
We may perform a disability review even
if your child’s condition isn’t expected
to improve. When we do a review,
you must present evidence that your
child’s disability still severely limits his
or her daily activities and that your child
has been receiving treatment that’s
considered medically necessary for his
or her medical condition.

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What happens when your child
turns age 18
In the SSI program, a child becomes
an adult at age 18, and we use different
medical and nonmedical rules when
deciding if an adult can get SSI disability
payments. For example, we don’t count
the income and resources of family
members, except for a spouse, when
deciding whether an adult meets the
financial limits for SSI. We count only
the adult’s and spouse’s income and
resources. We also use the disability
rules for adults when deciding whether
an adult is disabled.
• If your child is already receiving SSI
payments, we must review the child’s
medical condition when they turn age
18. We usually do this review during
the one-year period that begins on
your child’s 18th birthday. We will
use the adult disability rules to decide
whether your 18-year-old is eligible
for SSI.
• Even if your child wasn’t eligible for
SSI before his or her 18th birthday
because you and your spouse
had too much income or too many
resources, they may become eligible
for SSI at age 18.
For more information, read Supplemental
Security Income (SSI) (Publication
No. 05-11000).

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Social Security Disability
Insurance benefits for adults
disabled since childhood
The Social Security Disability Insurance
(SSDI) program pays benefits to adults
who have a disability that began before
they became 22 years old. We consider
this SSDI benefit as a “child’s” benefit
because it’s paid on a parent’s Social
Security earnings record.
For a disabled adult to become entitled
to this “child” benefit, one of his or
her parents must:
• Be receiving Social Security
retirement or disability benefits.
• Have died and have worked enough
to qualify for Social Security.
Children who were receiving benefits
as a minor child on a parent’s Social
Security record may be eligible to
continue receiving benefits on that
parent’s record upon reaching age 18 if
they are disabled. We make the disability
determination using the disability rules
for adults.
SSDI disabled adult “child” benefits
continue as long as the individual
remains disabled. Marriage of the
disabled adult “child” may affect eligibility
for this benefit. Your child doesn’t need
to have worked to get these benefits.

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How we determine if your
“child” is disabled and entitled
to SSDI benefits
If your child is age 18 or older, we will
evaluate his or her disability in the same
way we would determine disability for
any adult. We send the application to
the Disability Determination Services
in your state that makes the disability
determination for us. For detailed
information about how we determine
disability for adults, read Disability
Benefits (Publication No. 05-10029).

Applying for SSI payments or

SSDI benefits and how you
can help
You can apply for SSI payments or SSDI
benefits for your child by calling Social
Security toll-free at 1-800-772-1213 or by
visiting your local Social Security office.
If you are applying for SSI payments
for your child, you should have his or
her Social Security number and birth
certificate with you. If you are applying
for SSDI benefits for your child based on
your own earnings record, please have
with you:
• Your own Social Security number with
you, or the Social Security number
of the retired, disabled, or deceased
parent on whose record the SSDI
claim is being filed.
• The child’s Social Security number
and birth certificate.

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You can help us make a determination by
doing the following:
• Tell us as much as you can about
your child’s medical condition(s).
• Give us the dates of visits to doctors
or hospitals, including the patient
account numbers for any doctors or
hospitals, and any other information
that will help us get your child’s
medical records.
• Provide us with copies of any medical
reports or information you have in
your possession.
NOTE: You don’t need to request
information from your child’s doctors.
We will contact them directly for reports
or information that we need to make a
decision about your child’s disability.
If your child is younger than age 18
and applying for SSI, you must provide
records that show your income and
resources, as well as those of your
child. We also will ask you to describe
how your child’s disability affects his or
her ability to perform daily activities. In
addition, we will ask for the names of
teachers, day care providers, and family
members who can provide information
about how your child functions. If you
have school records, you should bring
them to the interview.
In many communities, special
arrangements have been made with
medical providers, social service
agencies, and schools to help us get
the evidence we need to process your
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child’s claim. Your cooperation in getting
records and other information, however,
will help us finish our job more quickly.

Employment support
programs for young people
with disabilities
We have many ways to encourage
young people who are receiving SSI
payments or SSDI benefits and who
want to go to work.
Under SSI:
• When we figure your child’s monthly
SSI payment, we don’t count most
of your child’s income. If your child
is younger than age 22, and is a
student who regularly attends school,
we exclude even more of his or
her earnings each month. In 2020,
disabled students younger than
age 22 may exclude $1,900 of their
monthly earnings, with an annual
limit of $7,670, when calculating their
income for SSI. These limits may
increase each year.
• With a Plan to Achieve Self-Support
(PASS), a child who is age 15 or older
can save some income and resources
to pay for education and other things
needed to be able to work. We
don’t count the saved income and
resources when we figure the amount
of your child’s payment. Read more
about PASS at www.socialsecurity.
gov/disabilityresearch/wi/pass.htm.

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• Because of a medical condition(s),
your child may need certain items
and services to work, such as a
wheelchair or a personal assistant.
When figuring your child’s SSI
payment, we won’t count some, or
all, of the amount paid for these items
and services in your child’s earnings.
• A child older than age 15 may get
help with rehabilitation and training.
• Medicaid coverage will continue
even if your child’s earnings are
high enough to stop the monthly SSI
payment as long as the earnings are
under a certain amount.
Under SSDI:
• An adult disabled before age 22 can
get the same help with work expenses
explained above for an SSI child, and
help with rehabilitation and training.
• Benefit payments may continue as
long as your child is not engaging
in substantial work. For 2020, we
consider your child to be doing
substantial work if their monthly
earnings are over $1,260 for non-blind
beneficiaries ($2,110 if they are blind).
You can get more information about
these programs at our website,
www.socialsecurity.gov, by calling us
toll-free at 1-800-772-1213, or by reading
www.socialsecurity.gov/redbook.

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Medicaid and Medicare
Medicaid is a health care program for
people with low income and limited
resources. In most states, children
who get SSI payments qualify for
Medicaid. In many states, Medicaid
comes automatically with SSI eligibility.
In other states, you must sign up for it.
And, some children can get Medicaid
coverage even if they don’t qualify
for SSI. Check with your local Social
Security office, your state Medicaid
agency, or your state or county social
services office for more information.
Medicare is a federal health insurance
program for people age 65 or older, and
for people who have been getting Social
Security disability benefits for at least
two years.
There are two exceptions to this rule.
Your disabled adult child can get
Medicare immediately if they have:
• End-Stage Renal Disease (permanent
kidney failure requiring a kidney
transplant or maintenance dialysis).
• Lou Gehrig’s disease (Amyotrophic
Lateral Sclerosis).

Children’s Health
Insurance Program
The Children’s Health Insurance
Program enables states to provide
health insurance to children from working
families with incomes too high to qualify
for Medicaid, but too low to afford private
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health insurance. The program provides
coverage for prescription drugs, vision,
hearing, and mental health services,
and is available in all 50 states and the
District of Columbia. Your state Medicaid
agency can provide more information
about this program, or you can get more
information about coverage for your
children at www.insurekidsnow.gov or
by calling 1-877-543-7669.

Other health care services

When your child gets SSI, we’ll refer
you to places where you can get
health care services for your child.
These services are under the Children
with Special Health Care Needs
provision of the Social Security Act.
State health agencies usually manage
these programs.
States call these services by many
different names, including Children’s
Special Health Services, Children’s
Medical Services, and Handicapped
Children’s Program. Most programs
provide services through clinics, private
offices, hospital-based outpatient
and inpatient treatment centers, or
community agencies.
Even if your child doesn’t get SSI, one of
these programs may be able to help you.
Local health departments, social service
offices, or hospitals should be able to
help you contact your local Children with
Special Health Care Needs program.

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Contacting Social Security
There are several ways to contact us,
such as online, by phone, and in person.
We’re here to answer your questions and
to serve you. For more than 80 years,
Social Security has helped secure today
and tomorrow by providing benefits and
financial protection for millions of people
throughout their life’s journey.
Visit our website
The most convenient way to conduct
Social Security business from anywhere
is online at www.socialsecurity.gov.
You can accomplish a lot.
• Apply for Extra Help with Medicare
prescription drug plan costs.
• Apply for most types of benefits.
• Find copies of our publications.
• Get answers to frequently asked
questions.
When you create a my Social Security
account, you can do even more.
• Review your Social Security
Statement.
• Verify your earnings.
• Print a benefit verification letter.
• Change your direct deposit
information.
• Request a replacement Medicare card.
• Get a replacement SSA-1099/1042S.
• Request a replacement Social
Security card, if you have no changes
and your state participates.
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Call us
If you don’t have access to the
internet, we offer many automated
services by telephone, 24 hours a
day, 7 days a week. Call us toll-free at
1-800-772-1213 or at our TTY number,
1-800-325-0778, if you’re deaf or hard of
hearing.
A member of our staff can answer your
call from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Monday
through Friday, if you need to speak
with someone. We ask for your patience
during busy periods since you may
experience a high rate of busy signals
and longer hold times to speak to us. We
look forward to serving you.
Schedule an office visit
You can find the closest office location
by entering your ZIP code on our office
locator webpage.
If you are bringing documents for us to
see, remember that they must be original
or certified copies that are certified by
the issuing agency.

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Social Security Administration | Publication No. 05-10026
ICN 455360 | Unit of Issue — HD (one hundred)
January 2020 (Recycle prior editions)
Benefits for Children With Disabilities
Produced and published at U.S. taxpayer expense