Below I have outlined the Supplemental Security Income process (SSI) through the Social Security Administration (SSA). SSI is a needs-based program that provides monthly payments to children and adults with disabilities. I am only knowledgeable regarding the application process for children, so that is what is focused on here. At this time, Izzy is not eligible to receive these benefits, but she will be able to reapply when she is 18 years of age and has her own resources. Even though Izzy is not eligible, I want to make sure others have this information as it can be very valuable.
Applying for SSI is done in person or over the phone (although with Covid protocols, it is only done over the phone right now). For children, applying is a 2-step process. There is an online Child Disability Report to fill out and then the actual SSI application.
For Izzy, I first filled out the Child Disability Report online. It was mostly about her medical diagnosis and medical records and how her condition affects her ability to function. This disability report assured us that she was *eligible to apply* (not eligible for benefits; a disability report alone cannot determine this). I submitted her disability report on January 20th and then received a text message that SSA had scheduled us an appointment for February 11th for a very specific time of 9:03 am. This was a little confusing because the text did not explain anything besides the day and time, so when February 11th came and 9:03 am passed, I was wondering if I was supposed to call, if it was a spam text, etc. But as I found out, they have a 1 hour window from the set time of the appointment, and they did call right around 10:00.
In our case, we did not need to submit a copy of Izzy’s birth certificate since she was recently born and we had to submit it for her original social security card, but in all other cases, a birth certificate would be necessary. The application over the phone is a Q&A interview about family, income, resources, and disability/diagnosis. Ours lasted about an hour. When our phone application was complete, I was told that everything we had discussed would be printed out and mailed to me (which it was), and then I was told that typically at this point, they would go on to go through the disability report in order to submit the entire claim, but she could already tell us that Izzy would be denied. I assume for anyone who would potentially qualify that going over the disability report wouldn’t take too long since its already been filled out.
SSI looks at both resources and gross income when determining eligibility, so even if an individual qualifies in one of these aspects, they have to qualify in both in order to receive the benefits. Also, if you are denied but something were to change with your income or lifestyle, you can always call back and try to reapply.
Here is the link to take you to the SSA site for the children’s application for SSI.
Overall it is a very easy process, I would guess that it would be relatively the same for an adult but with the added work and education questions.