High court to consider state’s system for taking foster childrens’ benefits

By Gina Holland

Associated Press

WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court said Tuesday it would decide if states can control the federal benefits of orphaned and abused children.

Justices will review Washington state’s practice of applying for benefits on behalf of foster children, then using the money to reimburse foster parents for things like food and clothing.

The ruling, likely sometime next year, will have far-reaching implications because every state has a system of collecting Social Security payments on behalf of children in state custody, the court was told.

Justices will look at a technical question involving Washington state’s mechanism for inserting themselves as the money collectors for children, then deciding how to use it. But the more basic issue is: Are poor children in state care being shortchanged or helped by the intervention?

The case was brought over benefits of a foster child whose mother was killed in a car crash. As the guardian of his estate, his grandmother, Wanda Pierce, received the benefits and put them in a college fund.

The state sought to get the money, and she filed a class action lawsuit.

One of Pierce’s lawyers, Teresa Wynn Roseborough, told the court that the money belongs to the children, not the government, and that states do not always use the cash in youths’ best interest.

Roseborough urged the court not to use the Washington system to address the issue, calling it a “muddled mess.”

On the other side were two dozen states and a group of children’s advocates who want the court to make clear that states can continue the practice.

The case turns on whether the state youth department acts as a creditor, billing children for their care then using the Social Security benefits to pay the bills. Federal law protects Social Security from creditors.

There are more than a half million children in foster care in America, and about 25 percent of those are disabled and may be eligible for Social Security, the court was told.

Groups including the Children’s Defense Fund and Catholic Charities told the court that states are “the last line of defense for children in foster care.” If states aren’t allowed to seek benefits for children “it is likely that no one will,” the groups said in a filing.

If the Washington state foster children win, states could be required to pay back the money. In Florida alone, that could be hundreds of millions of dollars, Attorney General Robert A. Butterworth told the court. Nationwide, it could cost billions, he said in court papers.

In addition to Florida, urging the court to take the case were Alaska, Colorado, Delaware, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, and Wyoming.

Washington State has about 10,000 children in foster care, and about 1,500 of them receive benefits under Social Security either because they are disabled or they are entitled to benefits of their deceased parents.

The state social services agency handles the paperwork for benefits.

The state Supreme Court ruled last year that the system was illegal.

“However worthy cost recovery might be, DSHS cannot violate federal law at the expense of foster children to accomplish it,” Washington Supreme Court Justice Richard Sanders wrote for the majority in the 5-3 ruling.

Pierce’s dispute with the state dates back to 1990. The state never took over the benefits for her grandson, Danny Keffeler, and he went on to attend college with the money she saved.

The case is Washington State Department of Social and Health Services v. Guardianship of Danny Keffeler, 01-1420.