Navigation What Kind of Social Security Benefits are Available if My Child is Disabled?
Having a child born with disabilities or a child who later in development shows signs of a disabling condition can be very disheartening to a parent. You may wonder what benefits are even available to a child.
Children ages birth until age 18 may be eligible for disability benefits under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program. The rules for evaluating whether a child is disabled differ from deciding if an adult is disabled. Social Security has specific Listings for children with disabling conditions. Social Security also looks at the functioning of the Whole Child under six areas (domains) to evaluate the severity of the child’s impairment and how it affects their ability to function.
These six areas of functioning change from different age ranges according to what would be expected of a child without any disabling conditions. These areas are the child’s ability to acquire and use information, attend and complete tasks, interact and relate with others, move about and manipulate objects, care for themselves, and their overall health and physical well-being.
