In a dire budget season with few wins for young people, there was an unexpected bright spot: Starting Jan. 1, Washington will stop siphoning Social Security payments from older youths in foster care.
Until now, the state routinely intercepted federal funds due to kids through survivors benefits or disability payments, using that money to pay for the youths’ time in care — unbeknown to the young people themselves.
Technically, it’s legal. But the practice leaves thousands of teens destitute when they age out of the system at 18. And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to foresee what happens next: frequently, homelessness, along with all the associated social costs.
Even officials in the Trump administration are uncomfortable with this so-called “orphan tax.”
Here in the other Washington, advocates for foster youth have spent years fighting to reverse it, pointing out that a growing number of other states have stopped the practice. They found bipartisan support in Sen. Emily Alvarado, D-West Seattle, and Sen. Judy Warnick, R-Moses Lake, whose bill to end it went to Gov. Ferguson for signing, after near-unanimous approval in both houses.
Sen. Alvarado says she’s been fighting for four years to see this. So, cheers to persistence!
There is one caveat: The move will apply only to young adults ages 18 to 21 who agree to participate in Extended Foster Care, which keeps them tethered to the state through case management and supportive living.
Each month, the state Department of Children, Youth and Families collects about $700,000 in federal benefits intended for some 750 young people in its care. Holding that money for the kids, rather than spending it, would blow a $12 million hole in the agency’s budget, according to DCYF estimates. That’s a hit few lawmakers were willing to stomach while trying to plug a billion-dollar deficit.
So, Sens. Alvarado and Warnick pulled back, retooled and aimed for a more winnable goal: safeguarding the money for 100 youths on the verge of aging out but willing to stay connected to the system through Extended Foster Care.
It’s a pragmatic compromise and an important first step toward doing the right thing. Foster care is tough enough for kids. The state must stop taking their money.
