(KIWA Staff Photo)
Statewide Iowa (RI) — Governor Kim Reynolds says Iowa has created a new system to ensure Social Security Survivor Benefits received by foster care children are invested and available to them when they turn 18 and leave the foster care system.
Social Security Survivor Benefits are paid to immediate family members of eligible Social Security recipients who have died. Like most states, Iowa had been using those payments to help cover stipends paid to foster parents. Reynolds says the change stems from one of First Lady Melania Trump’s policy initiatives.
Under the new system, Survivor Benefits can be directed into several types of accounts, including 529 college-savings plans, I-ABLE accounts for foster children with disabilities, or the new “Trump Accounts.”
State officials say only a small percentage of the roughly 3,700 children in Iowa’s foster care system qualify for Survivor Benefits. The change will not affect stipends paid to foster parents.
