Some 600,000 children with disabilities aren't getting benefits they're entitled to from the Social Security Administration because the agency isn't letting them know help is available, a coalition of private organizations said Thursday.
Eighty-five percent of the eligible children in some states are going without payments of up to $422 a month because their families don't know they qualify, the Children's SSI Campaign said in a statement.More than 1 million children with disabilities are eligible for the Supplemental Security Income program, but only 439,000 got them in December, the coalition said.
Some of the children qualify under a Supreme Court ruling of two years ago which said the agency had arbitrarily and illegally denied cash benefits.
The court ordered the SSA to contact 452,000 children turned down between 1980 and 1990, but only 204,000 have been located, Jonathan Stein of Philadelphia's Community Legal Services said.
Thursday is the second anniversary of the court case, Sullivan vs. Zebley, the largest class action lawsuit ever brought against the Social Security Administration.
Stein said there are delays and errors in processing cases and that the agency is engaging in "foot-dragging."
Agency spokeswoman Trish Butler denied the allegations.
"I'm shocked, disappointed and confused that all this agency's efforts to reach these children are being castigated as foot-dragging," Butler said in an interview Wednesday.
She said the agency has printed a quarter of a million posters, over half a million brochures in English and Spanish, run TV and radio public service announcements and been in touch with 200 community organizations.
Social Security Commissioner Gwendolyn King "has made a personal commitment to this outreach effort, and she is leaving no stone unturned," Butler said.
The Supplemental Security Income program is for lower-income families of children who are blind or have a severe disability or chronic illness.