Tapping kids Social Security

Greegor wrote:
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observe...l/14830948.htm

Posted on Fri, Jun. 16, 2006
N.C. taking foster kids' Social Security money

ERIC FRAZIER

Child welfare agencies in the Carolinas have joined others across the
nation in diverting to themselves more than $100 million in Social
Security money the federal government pays to foster children with
deceased or disabled parents.

The agencies say the money helps pay for care of the children, but some
child advocates say the government is effectively making parentless
children pay toward the cost of care that should be free to them.

The Mecklenburg Department of Social Services, for instance, took
$437,000 in its 2005-06 budget year to help care for about 110 foster
children.

DSS officials said that money offset the roughly $1.2 million spent on
their care, mostly in group homes or with foster families. Those
children represent about 10 percent of the foster children for whom the
county is legal guardian.

"I think people are entitled to their different views," said Dannette
Smith, Mecklenburg's top child welfare official. But "if that money was
not used, the state and county would have to make up the difference."

The N.C. Division of Social Services said it couldn't estimate how
often it happens. N.C. counties decide whether to screen children to
see whether they qualify for Social Security benefits.

"It is standard operating practice," said Cleveland County DSS Director
John Wasson. "The rationale is that you use money from the DSS budget
to support the child, and any resource they have ought to go toward
their upkeep."

S.C. DSS officials estimate that they took in about $2.3 million in
Social Security money for the current budget year.

Generally, when DSS officials find a child who does qualify, the
agencies insert themselves as the "representative payee" for the
child's funds, a practice allowed under federal policies. The monthly
Social Security or disability payment then goes to the DSS agency.

The issue provokes emotional debate between DSS agencies struggling
with underfunded budgets and child advocates who say the money should
be saved to help children transition into adulthood.

"When you use up the children's benefits, they are essentially turned
out into the street at 18 with little to no resources," said Lewis
Pitts, an attorney with Legal Aid of North Carolina.

"There are national as well as North Carolina groups that are morally
outraged at the nationwide practice of offsetting budget cuts ... by
taking, by misappropriating, Social Security benefits that belong to
the foster kids."

Pitts' client, John G., a 15-year-old Greensboro-area boy, is battling
the Guilford County Department of Social Services for control of his
Social Security money.

The teen, who can't be fully identified for confidentiality reasons,
has an $80,000 house his late adoptive father willed to him. The home
was threatened with foreclosure because DSS officials wouldn't use his
$538 per month Social Security payment to handle the mortgage. The
mortgage on the Habitat for Humanity home is $221 per month.

In a telephone interview Wednesday with the Observer, John said the
house represents one good thing he has left from a troubled childhood;
he wants to live in it after he turns 18.

"That'd be something I wouldn't have to worry about right then," he
said.

But Guilford DSS Director John Shore said if the Social Security money
can't be used, "it's (like) ordering county taxpayers to preserve this
asset for the child."

He said his agency was only following state and federal policies
allowing it to take the Social Security money. Some DSS officials point
to a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case in which justices said the state of
Washington wasn't violating a Social Security Act provision that says
the money can't be garnished.

In a ruling on John G.'s case late last year, District Judge Susan Bray
scolded Guilford DSS officials and noted that while the high court's
ruling in the Washington case made it permissible for DSS to take the
money, it didn't make it mandatory.

Shore said Guilford DSS is paying John's mortgage now, but is also
appealing the decision to the N.C. Court of Appeals.

Daniel Hatcher, a University of Baltimore law professor, mentioned John
G. in May as he testified before Congress on the issue. Hatcher
believes the money should be conserved to help children transition to
adulthood once they age out of the foster care system at 18.

He cited government statistics showing about 40 percent of foster
children who age out are dependent on public assistance or Medicaid,
and more than half were unemployed.

"When a rational person looks at this issue," Hatcher said in a
telephone interview, "it's hard to come up with a decent argument why
abused and neglected children shouldn't be allowed to keep their own
money."

Greegor wrote:

No, actually he didn't. He posted without comment another's post. Why
repost something that was already posted?

Because he thinks he's clever.

How stupid is that, I wonder?

So, shall we go by the new rule, Greg? The one where the person asked
first has to reply? R R R R R

Okay. What's your take on this article?

Gotcha, stupid.

0:-

Greegor wrote:
http://www.charlotte.com/mld/observe...l/14830948.htm

Posted on Fri, Jun. 16, 2006
N.C. taking foster kids' Social Security money

ERIC FRAZIER

Child welfare agencies in the Carolinas have joined others across the
nation in diverting to themselves more than $100 million in Social
Security money the federal government pays to foster children with
deceased or disabled parents.

The agencies say the money helps pay for care of the children, but some
child advocates say the government is effectively making parentless
children pay toward the cost of care that should be free to them.

The Mecklenburg Department of Social Services, for instance, took
$437,000 in its 2005-06 budget year to help care for about 110 foster
children.

DSS officials said that money offset the roughly $1.2 million spent on
their care, mostly in group homes or with foster families. Those
children represent about 10 percent of the foster children for whom the
county is legal guardian.

"I think people are entitled to their different views," said Dannette
Smith, Mecklenburg's top child welfare official. But "if that money was
not used, the state and county would have to make up the difference."

The N.C. Division of Social Services said it couldn't estimate how
often it happens. N.C. counties decide whether to screen children to
see whether they qualify for Social Security benefits.

"It is standard operating practice," said Cleveland County DSS Director
John Wasson. "The rationale is that you use money from the DSS budget
to support the child, and any resource they have ought to go toward
their upkeep."

S.C. DSS officials estimate that they took in about $2.3 million in
Social Security money for the current budget year.

Generally, when DSS officials find a child who does qualify, the
agencies insert themselves as the "representative payee" for the
child's funds, a practice allowed under federal policies. The monthly
Social Security or disability payment then goes to the DSS agency.

The issue provokes emotional debate between DSS agencies struggling
with underfunded budgets and child advocates who say the money should
be saved to help children transition into adulthood.

"When you use up the children's benefits, they are essentially turned
out into the street at 18 with little to no resources," said Lewis
Pitts, an attorney with Legal Aid of North Carolina.

"There are national as well as North Carolina groups that are morally
outraged at the nationwide practice of offsetting budget cuts ... by
taking, by misappropriating, Social Security benefits that belong to
the foster kids."

Pitts' client, John G., a 15-year-old Greensboro-area boy, is battling
the Guilford County Department of Social Services for control of his
Social Security money.

The teen, who can't be fully identified for confidentiality reasons,
has an $80,000 house his late adoptive father willed to him. The home
was threatened with foreclosure because DSS officials wouldn't use his
$538 per month Social Security payment to handle the mortgage. The
mortgage on the Habitat for Humanity home is $221 per month.

In a telephone interview Wednesday with the Observer, John said the
house represents one good thing he has left from a troubled childhood;
he wants to live in it after he turns 18.

"That'd be something I wouldn't have to worry about right then," he
said.

But Guilford DSS Director John Shore said if the Social Security money
can't be used, "it's (like) ordering county taxpayers to preserve this
asset for the child."

He said his agency was only following state and federal policies
allowing it to take the Social Security money. Some DSS officials point
to a 2003 U.S. Supreme Court case in which justices said the state of
Washington wasn't violating a Social Security Act provision that says
the money can't be garnished.

In a ruling on John G.'s case late last year, District Judge Susan Bray
scolded Guilford DSS officials and noted that while the high court's
ruling in the Washington case made it permissible for DSS to take the
money, it didn't make it mandatory.

Shore said Guilford DSS is paying John's mortgage now, but is also
appealing the decision to the N.C. Court of Appeals.

Daniel Hatcher, a University of Baltimore law professor, mentioned John
G. in May as he testified before Congress on the issue. Hatcher
believes the money should be conserved to help children transition to
adulthood once they age out of the foster care system at 18.

He cited government statistics showing about 40 percent of foster
children who age out are dependent on public assistance or Medicaid,
and more than half were unemployed.

"When a rational person looks at this issue," Hatcher said in a
telephone interview, "it's hard to come up with a decent argument why
abused and neglected children shouldn't be allowed to keep their own
money."



--
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin (or someone else)

it doesn't matter how many times it's been said
before...............it's still worth repeating..............follow the
money trail...............cps isn't about children.............it's
about otherwise useless individuals raking in the dough at taxpayer's
expense..................

wrote:
it doesn't matter how many times it's been said
before...............it's still worth repeating..............follow the
money trail...............cps isn't about children.............it's
about otherwise useless individuals raking in the dough at taxpayer's
expense..................

Your solution for child abuse would be ... ?

Show how it would be accomplished without money please.

I can hardly wait for your answer.

Drugs, Crime, mental illness. Don't leave any factors out.

0:-



--
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin (or someone else)

Greegor wrote:
Kane wrote
Drugs, Crime, mental illness. Don't leave any factors out.

But damage by individuals PALES compared to
abuse done to many THOUSANDS of citizens
by abusive bureaucratic agencies determined to
destroy and undermine FAMILIES...

Which agencies would that be?

Did you factor that in?

I can't. You have provided no proof.

When you do, I'll "factor" it "in."

Have you factored in the lack of truth and lack of supporting facts to
your claims yet?

List the agencies. Show the numbers. Prove your claim.

Are you trying to impress Doug with how thoroughly you've swallowed his
propagandist bull**** by ranting this and licking your lips deliciously?

0:-


--
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin (or someone else)

wrote:
the real tragedy of the cps mess is its heavy-handed and agenda-driven
bureaucracy destroyed the public's trust in the ability of
publicly-funded complex political institutions to resolve childcare
inadequacies.............the numerous disasters and injustices created
by cps ruined any chance for more creative and successful answers in
the foreseeable future................

]:^ runs around her dog lot barking about alternatives to
cps..................

Hyperbolic bushwah, lil 'o'

0:-


--
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin (or someone else)

ooooooooooooooh nooooooooooooo, it's reality.............dumb asses
like you can't think outside your oversized overpriced bureaucratic
mold.............cps is the hummer of bureaucracies.................the
g-a-s that drives is composed of equal parts greed, arrogance, and
stupidity.............

]:^ runs around her dog lot barking cps today.............cps
tomorrow.............cps forever.............blame it on the
parents.............

wrote:
ooooooooooooooh nooooooooooooo, it's reality.............dumb asses
like you can't think outside your oversized overpriced bureaucratic
mold.............cps is the hummer of bureaucracies.................the
g-a-s that drives is composed of equal parts greed, arrogance, and
stupidity.............

]:^ runs around her dog lot barking cps today.............cps
tomorrow.............cps forever.............blame it on the
parents.............


yaaaawn

--
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin (or someone else)

Kane, Is this pilfering of the kids Social Security
funds in line with your ""conservative"" views?

Greegor wrote:
Kane, Is this pilfering of the kids Social Security
funds in line with your ""conservative"" views?

It isn't pilfering.

It is support.

Who, exactly, if the child has no one to support them, should?

Which is the fairer option? To take from the public coffers or from the
SS funding source?

Why don't you write a book on it?

And yes, it IS a conservative value to take NOT from the public, but
from the individual for his or her support.

It is a LIBERAL value to bury financial reality in "taxing" for social
programs.

You haven't figured this out yet?

0:-

Or possibly you wish the children to not be cared for and die?

0:-


--
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what
to have for lunch. Liberty is a well armed lamb
contesting the vote." - Benjamin Franklin (or someone else)