by Sharon G. Cheney

There are two Social Security disability programs available to a disabled child: Supplemental Security Income or SSI and Social Security Disability Insurance or SSDI. The program under which the child would apply would depend on the child’s age.

Program #1: SSI

Under the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program, a child from birth to age 18 may receive monthly payments based on disability or blindness if he/she meets the following two requirements:

* He/She has an impairment or combination of impairments that meets the SSA’s definition of disability which is defined as a “medically determinable physical or mental impairment or combination of impairments that causes marked or severe functional limitations and that can be expected to cause death or that has lasted or can be expected to last for a continuous period of not less than twelve months.”

* The income and resources of the parents and the disabled child are within the allowed limits.

Program #2: SSDI

Under the Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) program, an adult child, which is understood as a person age 18 or older, may receive monthly benefits based on disability or blindness if he/she meets the requirements stated below:

* He or she has an impairment or combination of impairments that meets the definition of disability as stated above;

* The disability began before age 22; and

* The adult child’s parent worked long enough to be insured under Social Security and is receiving retirement or disability benefits or is deceased.

It is important to note that a common thread to both of these programs is that the child at issue must not be doing any substantial work.

Sharon G. Cheney is a partner in the law firm of Cheney & Cheney, P.C., which specializes in Personal Injury, Workers’ Compensation and Social Security.

If you have any legal questions of a general nature, please submit them to: Legal Forum, Post Office Box 1082, Reidsville, Georgia 30453.