Social Security Disability Requirements for Children

When a parent has a disabled child, the medical costs and the expenses for special needs programs can be high. The government can provide funds to the parents of children in this situation through the Social Security Disability Program and Social Security Disability Income (SSI). For a family to access these benefits, the child must meet certain requirements.

Earn Less Than $1,000 Monthly

• As of 2010, to be eligible for Social Security disability, a child cannot earn more than $1,000 per month. The Social Security Administration states that children who are working and earning that amount of money are not considered disabled.

Functional Limitations

• A child must have a physical and/or mental condition that severely limits his or her activities to qualify for Social Security disability. These functional limitations, according to the Social Security Administration, must be “marked and severe.”

Length of Time

• A child qualifies as disabled if he or she has had a limiting condition for at least the last 12 months or has a disabling condition that is expected to last for that amount of time. Alternatively, the child also qualifies if his or her condition is “expected to result in death,” according to the Social Security Administration.

Specific Conditions

• It can take up to five months for a state’s Social Security Administration to decide whether a child is disabled. However, there are specific medical conditions that allow a family to receive SSI payments right away while a state agency determines a child’s disability status. These conditions include total deafness, total blindness, HIV infection, Down syndrome, muscular dystrophy, low birth weight (below 2 pounds, 10 ounces), cerebral palsy and severe mental retardation in children ages 7 or older. The Social Security Administration states that if a family receives SSI payments during the months it took to evaluate a child’s condition but the agency then decided the disability is not “severe enough,” the family will not have to pay back the SSI benefits.

Application

• One of the requirements a family must fulfill for a child to earn Social Security disability benefits is to fill out the SSI application and a Child Disability Report. Parents need to fill out information regarding the child’s medical condition, the names and contact information for the child’s doctors and therapists, a list of prescription medication, proof of family income, and so on. In addition, a parent may also speak to an agency representative in a childhood disability interview regarding the child’s condition.