Did you know the Social Security Administration’s Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program provides cash payments to children with disabilities whose families have limited income and resources?
A child must meet all of the following disability requirements to be considered medically eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI):
The child, if not blind, generally must not be working or earning more than $1,550 a month in 2024.
If the child is blind, they must not be working or earning more than $2,590 in 2024. Earnings amounts typically change each year to keep up with inflation.
The child must have medical conditions that result in “marked and severe functional limitations.”
This means the conditions must very seriously limit the child’s activities. The child’s conditions must be expected to last at least one year or result in death.
Some teenagers may have part-time jobs or participate in work programs, which can affect their eligibility for SSI.
Additionally, if an unmarried child under 18 lives at home with one or both parents, we will consider a portion of the parents’ income as the child’s income.
We make allowances for parents and their other children living in the home when considering the parents’ income. You can learn more about benefits for children in our publication, Benefits for Children with Disabilities at www.ssa.gov/pubs/ES-05-10926.pdf.
We also help children (and adults) through our Compassionate Allowances program.
Compassionate Allowances are a way to quickly identify conditions that, by definition, meet our standard for disability benefits. You can read the list of conditions at www.ssa.gov/compassionateallowances/conditions.htm (available in English only).
Compassionate Allowances can help reduce the time it takes us to make a disability determination for applicants with the most severe disabilities.
Thousands of children receive benefits because they have a condition on this list, but children with conditions not on this list may still qualify for SSI.
If you are or know a parent, guardian, caregiver, or representative of a child who may be eligible for SSI, visit our Disability Benefits: Apply for a Child (Under Age 18) webpage at www.ssa.gov/es/ssi to learn more.
By: Javier Morales
Social Security Public Affairs Specialist in FL
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