Disabled youth receiving Title IV-E federal foster care benefits usually cannot become eligible for SSI until foster care payments have stopped. Eligibility for foster care payments in most States ends at age 18 attainment. These youth need the income support and health services that result from SSI eligibility to ease the transition to independent living. To help with this transition, SSA may accept an SSI application from a youth up to 180 days before their foster care eligibility will end. This is an exception to the general rule of accepting an SSI application in the month before the month of eligibility, as described in SI 00601.010.B.3.a.

NOTE: If the foster care payments do not preclude SSI eligibility, the FO should follow normal claims taking procedures.

The claimant may file an SSI application if they:

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  live in a foster care situation as defined in SI 00830.410.A.1;

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  allege blindness or disability;

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  appear likely to meet all of the non-medical eligibility requirements when foster care payments terminate;

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  expect the foster care payments to cease within 180 days of the application filing date; and

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  are within 180 days of losing foster care eligibility.

NOTE: If the requirements outlined above are not met or if a claimant in foster care files for benefits more than 180 days before foster care payments end, the claims interviewer should adjudicate the application under the normal application process, documenting the receipt of countable foster care payments. For the application process, see SI 00601.010 and SI 00601.012.

The following is the process for a claimant to file for SSI before they transition out of foster care. NOTE: Applicants are not eligible for presumptive disability payments.

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  The field office (FO) establishes the application in Modernized Supplemental Security Income Claims System (MSSICS) and builds the Supplemental Security Record (SSR) as a disabled individual (DI) or a blind individual (BI) with payment status (PSY) code H80.

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  The FO enters the case into EDCS. Before the case is sent to the DDS, the FO will complete the SSA-3367 (Disability Report – Field Office), see SI 00601.011.D.4 in this section.

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  The FO sends the case to Disability Determination Services (DDS) as a DI or BI. The MSSICS event remains open and the SSR remains in PSY H80, while the DDS develops the medical issue.

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  The DDS makes an adult medical determination and inputs the determination.

EXCEPTION: If the claimant has not attained age 18 as of the application filing date, the DDS will input the medical determination when the claimant attains age 18.

NOTE: If the claimant meets the non-medical SSI eligibility factors in the month they attain age 18 or in an earlier month, inform the DDS that we need both a child and an adult medical determination. If the DDS makes a medical allowance determination, the FO contacts the claimant to conduct the pre-effectuation review contact (PERC) (update the MSSICS screens and complete the non-medical development needed) to adjudicate the claim, and to effectuate payment.

NOTE: A medical denial determination input by DDS closes the pending MSSICS event and posts the medical denial code to the SSR usually without additional FO action.

Use the following MSSICS coding for a claimant in foster care who is under age 18 as of the application filing date to build the SSR as a (DI) or (BI). NOTE: In order to generate the SSA-3368 in EDCS, it is necessary to code the claimant as Head of Household in MSSICS. A full application is required to place a claimant in the Head of Household (HD) living arrangement.

Use the following MSSICS coding for a claimant in foster care who is age 18 or older as of the application filing date. For policy on MSSICS inputs, see SI 00601.009.C.2.

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  DI 25201.011, Making a Determination for Youth in Foster Care When the Application Effective Date Is On or After the Attainment of Age 18

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  DI 81010.020 Creating Electronic Disability Collect System (EDCS) Cases

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  DI 81010.025 Completing Electronic Disability Collect System (EDCS) Forms for Initial Claims

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  DI 81010.080 Alerts, Flags, and Messages in the Electronic Disability Collect System (EDCS)

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  SI 00601.009 Application Effective Date

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  SI 00601.010 Filing Applications

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  SI 00601.012 Proper Applicant

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  SI 00603.030 Preeffectuation Review Contact (PERC) - Introduction

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  SI 00830.170 Income Based on Need (IBON)

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  SI 00830.410 Foster Care Payments