HI SR46

Hawaii Department of Human Services currently intercepts Social Security payments for children in foster care and uses the funds to pay for foster care costs, a practice shared by 49 states.

Between 2018 and 2022, the Hawaii DHS collected $1,500,000 from Social Security payments meant for 37 children in foster care.

Approximately 10 percent of foster youth in the United States receive Social Security benefits due to parental death or their own physical or mental disability.

Resolution requests the DHS immediately cease intercepting Social Security payments and instead deposit them into savings accounts that foster children can access upon family reunification, adoption, or aging out of foster care.

Resolution cites New York City's decision to end Social Security interception practices and establish savings accounts for foster children as a model for Hawaii to follow.