Colorado orphans shouldn’t have to pay for their own foster care, lawmakers say

Counties would have to stop taking orphans’ Social Security survivor benefits to pay for their foster care under legislation that passed its first vote at the Capitol on Wednesday. 

Lawmakers who supported the legislation said it wasn’t fair that foster kids whose parents have died have to pay for their own care while other children do not. 

The debate, like a lot of fights at the Capitol this year, pitted what many termed “the right thing to do” against the cost of doing the right thing.

Those who voted against the bill, House Bill 1271, were concerned about how counties would make up for the loss of funds, especially when the state is dealing with a $1.2 billion budget deficit. 

The measure that passed a House committee on an 11-3 vote was a walked-back version of the initial proposal, which would have prevented county human services departments from not only keeping the benefits of children whose parents have died but also Social Security benefits for children with disabilities.

Foster children with disabilities were cut out of the bill because of the cost to counties but also the complexities of changing a long-standing policy. The bill’s sponsors said they intend to expand the policy changes to Social Security disability benefits in the future. 

Under current practice, county child welfare departments apply for federal disability and parental death benefits on behalf of Colorado foster children, then use the Social Security funds to help cover the cost of foster care. The foster kids often are not even aware the benefits were claimed on their behalf until they were no longer in the system.

The practice is under fire across the country as former foster children and advocates are asking why kids whose parents are dead and kids with disabilities — unlike other children — have to pay for their own shelter and food when they’re sent to foster homes. About 30 states are working to change their policies.

One county in Colorado has already ended the practice. 

Boulder County changed its policy in October for foster children receiving their deceased parents’ Social Security benefits, putting all the money in a trust and not using any to pay for their foster care. The policy had existed for six years for foster teens 14 and older, and was extended to all kids last fall. There are seven children who have the trusts, with two more applications being filed, county officials previously told The Colorado Sun.

For Boulder County children with disabilities, however, federal disability benefits still go toward reimbursing their foster families and residential centers for their care. The Social Security Administration pays $943 per month for child disability benefits. But the lowest level of foster care costs at least $1,836 a month in Colorado, Boulder County officials said.

Officials from multiple counties testified against the bill, as did Colorado Counties, Inc. “Ultimately, this is a bill that I think everyone would like to support,” said the association’s lobbyist Kevin Neimond. But “there is no more money at the county level to pay for services.” 

The Colorado Department of Human Services is working on a more accurate fiscal analysis, but has estimated that counties are collecting a total of about $2 million per year in Social Security disability and death benefits for children in foster care. That’s a tiny fraction of the annual budget for the state Office of Children, Youth and Families, which is $784 million in state and federal funds. 

The proposal would cost the state $749,000 next year, then $7.6 million the following year, mainly to pay for staff and contractors who would screen children for eligibility and set up trust accounts with their federal benefits. 

The fiscal analysis assumes that about 10% of the state’s 7,200 children in foster care are eligible to receive federal benefits. It predicts the number of children receiving benefits would grow by 182 from the current 538 because Colorado would have a more robust screening program.

In response to questions about how counties would deal with the loss of funds, Rep. Lindsay Gilchrist, a Denver Democrat, said: “That is not the county’s funding; that is kids’ money.”

“It wasn’t their money to begin with.”

Rep. Kyle Brown, a Democrat from Louisville and one of the lead sponsors of the bill, said he was shocked when he learned counties were spending kids’ federal benefits. He and others said Colorado could save taxpayer money spent on homelessness in the long run if foster teens exiting the system had their benefit money in a bank account to buy cars, tuition or rent. 

“They exit the foster system without a dollar to their name and no place to go,” he said. “It’s about fairness and opportunity.” 

Arizona was the first state to pass a law saying that child welfare agencies could no longer use children’s benefits to pay for their care. Instead, children in that state have trusts set up for their extracurricular activities, camps or other “unmet needs” and the state must release any remaining money to the child when they leave foster care. 

The funds amounted to $6.1 million per year in Arizona. 

Gilchrist brought the legislation after a friend took in two foster teenagers and found out that the county had collected and used $37,000 in benefits on the children’s behalf after their mom died. 

“When I heard this story I was obviously horrified and thought we have to do something to change this practice in Colorado,” Gilchrist said to fellow lawmakers Wednesday.

Rep. Lori Garcia Sander, a Republican from Eaton, voted against the measure, calling it a “regretful no.”

“I hear the moral imperative,” she said. “I also was sent here to represent my two counties.”