SI 00601: General Applications and Interviewing Policy

Effective Dates: 07/29/2016 - Present

TN 22 (07-16)

Citations:

Soc. Sec. Act, Sec. 1631(e)(1)(A);

A. Background for SSI applications from disabled youth transitioning out of foster care

Disabled youth receiving Title IV-E federal foster care benefits usually cannot become eligible for SSI until foster care payments have stopped. Eligibility for foster care payments in most States ends at age 18 attainment. These youth need the income support and health services that result from SSI eligibility to ease the transition to independent living. To help with this transition, SSA may accept an SSI application from a youth up to 180 days before his or her foster care eligibility will end. This is an exception to the general rule of accepting an SSI application in the month before the month of eligibility, as described in SI 00601.010.B.3.a.

NOTE: If the foster care payments do not preclude SSI eligibility, the FO should follow normal claims taking procedures.

B. Policy for filing an SSI application for disabled youth transitioning out of foster care

The claimant may file an SSI application if he or she:

lives in a foster care situation as defined in SI 00830.410.A.1;
alleges blindness or disability;
appears likely to meet all of the non-medical eligibility requirements when foster care payments terminate;
expects the foster care payments to cease within 180 days of the application filing date; and
is within 180 days of losing foster care eligibility.

NOTE: If the requirements outlined above are not met or if a claimant in foster care files for benefits more than 180 days before foster care payments end, the claims interviewer should adjudicate the application under the normal application process, documenting the receipt of countable foster care payments. For the application process, see SI 00601.010 and SI 00601.012.

C. Process to file for SSI before transitioning out of foster care

The following is the process for a claimant to file for SSI before he or she transitions out of foster care. NOTE: Applicants are not eligible for presumptive disability payments.

The field office (FO) establishes the application in Modernized Supplemental Security Income Claims System (MSSICS) and builds the Supplemental Security Record (SSR) as a disabled individual (DI) or a blind individual (BI) with payment status (PSY) code H80.
The FO enters the case into EDCS. Before the case is sent to the DDS, the FO will complete the SSA-3367 (Disability Report – Field Office), see SI 00601.011.D.4 in this section.
The FO sends the case to Disability Determination Services (DDS) as a DI or BI. The MSSICS event remains open and the SSR remains in PSY H80, while the DDS develops the medical issue.
The DDS makes an adult medical determination and inputs the determination.

EXCEPTION: If the claimant has not attained age 18 as of the application filing date, the DDS will input the medical determination when the claimant attains age 18.

NOTE: If the claimant meets the non-medical SSI eligibility factors in the month he or she attains age 18 or in an earlier month, inform the DDS that we need both a child and an adult medical determination. If the DDS makes a medical allowance determination, the FO contacts the claimant to conduct the pre-effectuation review contact (PERC) (update the MSSICS screens and complete the non-medical development needed) to adjudicate the claim, and to effectuate payment.

NOTE: A medical denial determination input by DDS closes the pending MSSICS event and posts the medical denial code to the SSR usually without additional FO action.

D. Procedure for taking a SSI application from disabled youth under age 18 transitioning out of foster care.

Use the following MSSICS coding for a claimant in foster care who is under age 18 as of the application filing date to build the SSR as a (DI) or (BI). NOTE: In order to generate the SSA-3368 in EDCS, it is necessary to code the claimant as Head of Household in MSSICS. A full application is required to place a claimant in the Head of Household (HD) living arrangement.

1. Residence Address (LRES)

Code the LRES screen as follows:

RESIDENCE TYPE: “1” for house, apartment, mobile home, or houseboat.

2. Owned/Rental Data (LORD)

Code the LORD screen as follows:

CLAIMANT IS HEAD OF HOUSEHOLD: Y

SELECT: “3” for no one in household owns or rents

3. SSR Remarks (CRMK)

Add the remark “YOUTH TRANSITIONING OUT OF FOSTER CARE” to the SSR.

4. Electronic Disability Collect System (EDCS)

Complete the following to document the EDCS.

Complete the SSA-3368 (Disability Report — Adult). See DI 81010.020 for the policy on creating EDCS cases.
Complete the SSA-3367 (Disability Report – Field Office) portion of EDCS with a potential onset as the date the claimant attains age 18 and the remark “Youth transitioning out of foster care. Hold determination input until age 18 attainment. No payment due before age 18 attainment.” For additional information on completing the SSA-3367, see DI 81010.025.
Add a "Special Handling" flag and annotate "Youth in foster care - no payment before age 18." See DI 81010.080 for information on alerts, flags, and messages in EDCS.
Add a message "Youth in foster care - no payment before age 18," to the electronic folder. See DI 81010.080 for information on alerts, flags, and messages in EDCS.
On the Title II/Title XVI Summary page, select the [Edit Claim(s)] button. Once the Title II/Title XVI Information page is displayed, add “FOS” to the Litigation Code field and add “Youth transitioning out of foster care” in the Transfer Remarks field.

NOTE: For non-MSSICS cases, use form SSA-450-SI (Supplemental Security Income Data Input and Determination) and code the Type of Claim (TP) field as DI, and include the Head of Household (HD) field, the Living Arrangement (LA) field with Federal Living Arrangement Code of A (FLA A), and the Remark field with “Youth transitioning out of Foster Care” following the instructions in SM 01005.010, SM 01005.160, SM 01005.315, and SM 01301.841. Document the paper SSA-3367 as described per SI 00601.011.D.4 in this section.

E. Procedure for taking a SSI application from disabled youth age 18 and older transitioning out of foster care.

Use the following MSSICS coding for a claimant in foster care who is age 18 or older as of the application filing date. See SI 00601.009.C.2 for policy on MSSICS inputs.

1. SSR Remarks (CRMK)