Questions about homeschooling and SSI.

[puptales]

I was hoping there might be someone on here that has some experience with this topic.  My youngest daughter (7) has an anxiety disorder, SPD, and selective mutism.  We are starting to look at applying for SSI for her.  It would appear that she could be eligible, based on income guidelines and her diagnoses.  She has been in occupational therapy on and off for a couple years, and is currently receiving play therapy.  I have requested copies of all her records from various providers and am waiting to take a look at those.

My actual question here is in regards to how receiving SSI will affect her in the long-term.  Both my husband and I are hesitant for her to have labels that will carry over into adulthood and no longer be applicable.  Will receiving SSI as a child impact her ability for employment in the future?  Is there possibility that if she is receiving SSI that could impact our choice to homeschool?  As in, could the state interfere and require her to be public-schooled for some reason?  I don't know how likely something like that is, but I don't really want to find out the hard way.  I'm sorry if these are silly questions, but this is whole new territory for us and I want to know what we're getting into before we move on.   

[Crimson Wife]

I've only ever heard of issues with HSed children who turn 18 before graduating. At 7 this isn't going to be a concern for you for many years.

I will warn you that it is not easy for a child to qualify as "disabled" for the purposes of SSI. Just because she has diagnoses that are potentially qualifying does not mean that they will deem her "disabled". You have to prove that the disabilities impact her activities of daily living severely enough for SSA.

Also, qualifying for SSI as a child does not automatically carry over to adulthood. Many, many children qualify when they are younger but no longer qualify after they turn 18. Having received SSI as a child helps for re-qualifying as an adult because of the "paper trail" (that's one of the reasons we went ahead and applied for our SN child) but it's not a guarantee.

[puptales]

18 hours ago, Crimson Wife said:

I've only ever heard of issues with HSed children who turn 18 before graduating. At 7 this isn't going to be a concern for you for many years.

I will warn you that it is not easy for a child to qualify as "disabled" for the purposes of SSI. Just because she has diagnoses that are potentially qualifying does not mean that they will deem her "disabled". You have to prove that the disabilities impact her activities of daily living severely enough for SSA.

Also, qualifying for SSI as a child does not automatically carry over to adulthood. Many, many children qualify when they are younger but no longer qualify after they turn 18. Having received SSI as a child helps for re-qualifying as an adult because of the "paper trail" (that's one of the reasons we went ahead and applied for our SN child) but it's not a guarantee.

Thank you for this.  Definitely some things that we need to think about.  I had not even thought about applying for SSI, but we were contacted by our health insurance company that we might be eligible.  It seemed a bit strange that they would be reaching out to us (and actually being "helpful"), which is why I'm hesitant to do anything official yet.  I just figured there must be some benefit to the insurance company that we haven't considered, so I want to look at all the possibilities.  

[Pawz4me]

31 minutes ago, puptales said:

Thank you for this.  Definitely some things that we need to think about.  I had not even thought about applying for SSI, but we were contacted by our health insurance company that we might be eligible.  It seemed a bit strange that they would be reaching out to us (and actually being "helpful"), which is why I'm hesitant to do anything official yet.  I just figured there must be some benefit to the insurance company that we haven't considered, so I want to look at all the possibilities.  

It may be that qualifying for SSI is an automatic qualifier for Medicaid? Just a guess.

[Crimson Wife]

43 minutes ago, Pawz4me said:

It may be that qualifying for SSI is an automatic qualifier for Medicaid? Just a guess.

Yes, this. We don't qualify for a monthly benefit under SSI due to our income but having the government officially deem her "disabled" entitles her to other benefits not limited by income. She was already on the Medicaid waiver through the Regional Center (part of the state Dept. of Developmental Disabilities) but apparently qualifying for SSI moved her to a more generous category. Medicaid wraps around our private insurance and picks up the deductible & co-pays for providers that accept Medicaid and medications that are on the Medicaid formulary.