HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

H.R. NO.

46

THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 

 

 

 

 

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

requesting the department of human services to immediately cease intercepting social security payments for children in foster care.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Department of Health and Human Services Adoption and Foster Care Analysis and Reporting System recorded 1,418 children in foster care in Hawaii on September 30, 2021; and

 

     WHEREAS, approximately ten percent of foster youth in the United States are entitled to Social Security benefits, either because their parents have died or because they have a physical or mental disability; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii is among forty-nine states that currently intercept Social Security payments for children in foster care without the foster child's knowledge; and

 

     WHEREAS, between 2018 and 2022, the Hawaii Department of Human Services collected $1,500,000 on behalf of thirty-seven children in foster care; and

 

     WHEREAS, intercepted Social Security payments are used by the Department of Human Services to pay for the foster child's care; and

 

     WHEREAS, intercepting Social Security payments meant for foster children limits their financial well-being as they pursue higher education or achieve financial independence; and

 

     WHEREAS, child welfare officials in New York City recently decided to end the practice of intercepting foster children's Social Security payments and plan to deposit the payments into savings accounts, which a foster child may access when the child is returned to their family, is adopted, or ages out of foster care; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, that the Department of Human Services is requested to immediately cease intercepting Social Security payments for children in foster care; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Human Services is requested to deposit Social Security payments for foster children into savings accounts that may be accessed by foster children when they return to their families, are adopted, or age out of foster care; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor and Director of Human Services.

 

 

 

 

OFFERED BY:

_____________________________

 

 

Report Title: 

Foster Children; Social Security Payments