Social Security Benefits for a Grandchild in North Dakota Kinship Care

When a Grandchild May Qualify for Social Security

A grandchild in kinship care may be eligible for Social Security benefits in several situations. These are federal benefits administered by the Social Security Administration — not state programs — and they apply regardless of your state. What matters for North Dakota caregivers is how these payments interact with state benefits like TANF and Medicaid.

Survivor Benefits

If one or both of the child's parents have died and the deceased parent worked long enough to be insured under Social Security, the child may receive monthly survivor benefits. Children can receive up to 75% of the deceased parent's basic Social Security amount. Benefits continue until the child turns 18 (or 19 if still in high school full-time).

The grandparent or kinship caregiver who has physical custody of the child can apply on the child's behalf at their local Social Security office. Legal guardianship is not strictly required to apply, but having a court order or power of attorney can simplify the process.

Dependent Benefits on a Grandparent's Record

A grandchild can sometimes collect benefits on a living grandparent's Social Security record — but the rules are narrower. Generally, the child's natural or adoptive parents must be deceased or disabled, unless the grandparent adopted the child. The grandchild must have begun living with the grandparent before age 18 and received at least half of their support from the grandparent during the required year before the grandparent became entitled to retirement or disability benefits or died. Simply living with the grandparent is not enough.

Disability Benefits (SSI and SSDI)

If the child has a qualifying disability, they may be eligible for Supplemental Security Income (SSI) regardless of the parents' work history. SSI eligibility is based on the child's own income and resources — and for a child living with a kinship caregiver who is not the parent, the caregiver's income is not "deemed" to the child the same way a parent's income would be. This can make kinship children more likely to qualify for SSI than children living with a biological parent.

How Social Security Payments Affect TANF

Here is where it gets practical for North Dakota caregivers. Child-only TANF counts the child's own income when determining eligibility and benefit amounts. Social Security survivor benefits paid to the child are counted as the child's unearned income.

If a grandchild receives, say, $900 per month in survivor benefits, that amount is evaluated against the child-only TANF income limits. In many cases, survivor benefits alone will push the child over the TANF income threshold, making them ineligible for the child-only cash grant.

The caregiver's own Social Security retirement or disability payments, however, remain fully excluded from the child-only TANF calculation. Only the child's direct benefits count.

How Social Security Payments Affect Medicaid

Medicaid and Healthy Steps (CHIP) use different income rules. When a child is assessed under non-filer MAGI rules, the child's household includes resident parents or stepparents and siblings under age 19, but not the relative caregiver solely because the child lives with them. Only the taxable portion of a child's Social Security benefits is counted as ACA Medicaid income. The Healthy Steps income limit is 205% FPL, including the 5% disregard; many children receiving survivor benefits may still qualify.

What Changed With GPO and WEP

If you are a retired grandparent who receives both a government pension and Social Security benefits, you should know that the Government Pension Offset and Windfall Elimination Provision were repealed in January 2025 under the Social Security Fairness Act. Your government pension no longer reduces your Social Security spousal or survivor benefits. If your benefits were previously reduced, SSA has processed retroactive adjustments.

This matters for kinship caregivers on fixed incomes because it may mean your own monthly income is higher than you expected — though it has no effect on the grandchild's benefit calculation.

Next Steps

Social Security is a federal program, so eligibility does not depend on your arrangement with North Dakota state agencies. But how those payments interact with TANF, Medicaid, and SNAP affects your total household support.

The North Dakota Kinship Financial Help Guide explains how each state benefit program treats a child's Social Security income, with a document checklist covering what to bring to both the Social Security office and your Human Service Zone.

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