Ohio Kinship Care: SSI and Social Security Survivor Benefits for a Grandchild

Two Types of Social Security a Grandchild Might Receive

When a child in your care receives federal Social Security payments, it affects how Ohio's state benefits interact with that income. There are two distinct programs to understand:

Supplemental Security Income (SSI) is a needs-based federal benefit for children with qualifying disabilities. SSI has its own income and asset limits and is paid monthly to the child (or their representative payee — often the grandparent).

Social Security survivor benefits are paid when a child's parent has died and the parent had enough work credits. The child receives a monthly benefit based on the deceased parent's earnings record. There's no disability requirement — the child qualifies simply by being the dependent of a deceased worker.

Both types of payment are the child's income, not yours. But they interact differently with Ohio's kinship benefits.

How SSI Interacts with OWF Child-Only

Ohio excludes a recipient's SSI income, including the SSI payment, from countable income for OWF. A caregiver can exclude an SSI-eligible child from the assistance group, so compare how each choice affects the OWF grant and the child's SSI before deciding.

If you include the child, the SSI payment itself does not reduce the OWF grant. If you exclude the SSI-receiving child, the child is not part of the OWF case. If you have other children in the home who don't receive SSI, they can still be in the OWF assistance group.

The right choice depends on the dollar amounts. Ask the CDJFS and Social Security Administration to compare how each assistance-group option would affect the OWF grant and the child's SSI.

How Survivor Benefits Interact with OWF

Social Security survivor benefits are counted as unearned income to the child in the OWF calculation. If a child receives $200 a month in survivor benefits, that $200 reduces the $382 OWF payment standard to $182.

Ask the CDJFS how the child's survivor benefit affects the assistance group and grant calculation.

SNAP and Medicaid Impacts

For SNAP, both SSI and survivor benefits count as income to the household. However, SSI recipients in Ohio may be categorically eligible for SNAP under certain rules, which can simplify the application.

For Medicaid, SSI recipients are automatically eligible for Medicaid in Ohio — no separate application needed. The Medicaid coverage attaches to the SSI eligibility, not to the OWF or SNAP case.

Survivor benefits don't automatically trigger Medicaid, but the child likely qualifies through Healthy Start anyway if your income (as a non-tax-dependent caregiver) isn't counted.

What This Means Practically

If the child in your care receives SSI or survivor benefits:

1. Calculate the OWF child-only grant with and without the child's Social Security income
2. For SSI, compare excluding the child from OWF (keeping full SSI) vs. including them (reduced OWF + SSI)
3. Make sure the child's Medicaid is in place regardless of the OWF decision
4. Report the income to your CDJFS caseworker — failing to report can create overpayment issues later

GPO and WEP Are Repealed

If you've seen older information about the Government Pension Offset or Windfall Elimination Provision reducing your own Social Security because of a government pension — those are repealed. The Social Security Fairness Act eliminated both GPO and WEP for benefits payable January 2024 onward. If your own benefit was previously reduced, SSA should have already made the adjustment with retroactive pay back to January 2024.

The Ohio kinship financial help guide covers how SSI and survivor benefits interact with every Ohio program and includes worksheets for calculating the best assistance group composition.

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