(Radio Iowa) – Governor Kim Reynolds says Iowa has set up a system so Social Security Survivor Benefits that Iowa kids in foster care receive are invested and available for them when they turn 18 and are no longer in the foster care system.
Social Security Survivor Benefits are for the immediate family members of an eligible Social Security recipient who has died. Iowa, like most states, used those payments for foster care kids to help cover the stipends paid to foster care parents. Reynolds says the change is one of First Lady Melania Trump’s policy initiatives.
Under the new system, Social Security Survivor Benefits for Iowa foster care children can be directed into an array of accounts, including 5-29 plans to save money for college, so-called I-ABLE accounts for minors in foster care with a disability or into the new “Trump Accounts.”
State officials do not have a count on how many Iowa children in foster care quality for Social Security Survivor Benefits, but they say it’s a small percentage of the 37-hundred children in Iowa’s foster care system. The new diversion of Social Security Survivor Benefits will not affect the stipends paid to foster care parents.
