Governor Reynolds recently announced the state will help orphaned children in Iowa’s foster care system set up accounts for their Social Security Survivors benefits, so they’ll get that money when they turn 18 to pay for things like college or housing.
State Senator Sarah Trone Garriott, the Democrat running in Iowa’s third congressional district, proposed this move over two years ago, but it was rejected by Senate Republicans. “Our state was taking money from children whose parents had died and using it to pay for their foster care,” Trone Garriott said. “Now, no one else has to pay for their own foster care. This was the only situation where it was happening.”
State officials have said they do not know how much money foster care kids will be able to save this year with the move. Trone Garriott said she was told that in 2024 the state would be using $1.2 million in Social Security Survivors Benefits to cover foster care costs for orphaned children. “We had a surplus,” Trone Garriott said, “so it didn’t seem right to be doing it.”
Iowa is now the 31st state to help children in Iowa’s foster care system whose parents have died invest their Social Security Survivors Benefits. “I was surprised and really glad to see that the governor had decided to make this change,” Trone Garriott said, “because it was always something the Department of Health and Human Services could do.”
If she’s elected to the U.S. House, Trone Garriott said she will try to find a federal solution that would help the remaining 19 states make the same change. Trone Garriott is challenging Republican Congressman Zach Nunn’s bid for a third term in the U.S. House.
