This winter, The Arc of Northern Virginia will hold a series of free seminars for school-to-community transition for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities and their parents.
This series will consist of three full-day seminars on Saturdays, one monthly evening round-table as a follow-up, and the ability to schedule one-on-one consultations with The Arc of Northern Virginia staff.

The Saturday seminars will have two separate tracks, one for parents and one for youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities and recent graduates, between the ages of 14-26.

The seminars will cover subjects such as:
• government entities
• social security and Medicaid waivers
• adult education
• vocation opportunities
• recreational options
• financial concerns and long-term planning

In addition to The Arc of Northern Virginia staff, presenters will include a variety of other community-based organizations providing services and assistance to adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities in Northern Virginia. At the end of the sessions, all participants will have completed a family mission plan to guide them through the challenging transition years.

Participants will need to attend all three meetings. Parents/guardians and young adults will breakout to attend different workshops in separate areas. Care attendants are strongly encouraged.

Who Should Attend? Parents & transitioning youth between the ages of 14-26. (*Parents can be family members, aide supports, guardians, and/or adult siblings or other relatives).

Dates & Time: Three Saturdays: February 19, March 12, April 9, 8:30 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Location: Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School, 7134 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, VA 22043

Contact Elaine Eisenbaum, Director of Advocacy and Operations, Tel:(703) 532-3214 Ext. 102, Email: eeisenbaum@thearcofnova.org

Space is limited. Participants must apply for this free program.

Though the vast majority of America’s 2.6 million children with special needs will need costly care long after their parents have passed away, few parents are prepared for that day.  New research sponsored by The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc. has found that three in five (62%) parents of children with special needs have no plan to cover the cost of caring for the child when they no longer are able to do so.  And those that do have a plan often make mistakes that may disqualify their child for government services on which they now depend.

Of parents with a plan, only 42% are confident it will cover their child’s lifetime needs. The most common strategy (65%) used to cover the anticipated cost of care was life insurance.  The vast majority of parents (85%) with a child under five have life insurance. But just 46% with a child between the ages of 13-18 have a life insurance policy, despite the fact that a child’s needs may be as great or greater as an adult. Among those with a life insurance policy, 51% do not know that during the child’s lifetime they may access the accumulated cash value in a permanent policy to cover some of the cost of their child’s special needs and 72% of those who are aware they can do this do not take advantage of it.

Even parents with a plan for their child made costly mistakes. Half of all parents of children with special needs plan to leave money directly to their child and even more (58%) name their child as a beneficiary, either of which could possibly disqualify the child for critical government benefits and services.  In addition, only a quarter of the parents have established a special needs trust to provide for supplemental needs and expenses of the child, while not disqualifying the individual from receiving government benefits.  These missteps likely occurred because only 16% of parents with a plan created it with the help of an attorney.

Parents should take these four steps to help ensure their special needs child is protected:

1. Work with a Financial Professional to develop a plan capable of funding a lifetime of support for your special needs child, over and above what the government will provide.

2. Establish a special needs trust to protect the assets and to ensure the child will qualify to receive government benefits and services.

3. Speak with the person you want to be your child’s guardian so they fully understand the commitment and are willing to take on the obligation.

4. Buy a permanent life insurance policy to cover the anticipated cost of care.

Parents often assume they have to amass a big savings account to cover expenses, which can easily amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of their child’s lifetime, when individual life insurance can provide a more affordable strategy.

Although the typical Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) recipient has worked for a fairly long time before the onset of his/her disabling condition, an adult who became disabled before turning 22 can also qualify for SSDI if she/he has a parent who meets certain qualifications.

SSDI is a federal program primarily designed to aid people who have become disabled after having worked for a certain amount of time. Unlike Supplemental Security Income (SSI), SSDI is not a needs-based program, which means that there are no income and asset restrictions. Instead, a beneficiary typically has to have paid into the Social Security system for at least 10 years prior to his disability. An SSDI benefit depends on the beneficiary’s income before he/she became disabled, the size of his/her family, and the amount he/she paid into the Social Security system. Finally, SSDI recipients can receive Medicare two years after qualifying for SSDI.

Most people who have a serious disability before turning 22 are not able to assemble the necessary work record to qualify for SSDI on their own. But people in this situation may instead be able to qualify for SSDI on their parents’ work record, in certain situations.

First, the “adult disabled child” (the Social Security Administration’s (SSA) term for a person with a disability that manifested itself before age 22) must be completely disabled according to the SSA’s adult disability standards. Second, the disability must have occurred before the potential beneficiary turned 22. Third, the potential beneficiary’s parent must have paid into the Social Security system for the required number of quarters. Finally, and most importantly, the potential beneficiary’s parent must be either dead, permanently disabled, or receiving Social Security retirement benefits.

If an adult disabled child and her parent meets all of these qualifications, then the “child” should be able to receive a substantial benefit, often greater than an SSI award. On top of the monetary gain, the child does not have to worry about her/his own unearned income or assets, since SSDI does not take these into account. However, if a child earns enough income through employment, the SSA may determine that she is no longer disabled and cancel her SSDI benefits. The parent’s own retirement benefits are not affected by their child’s receipt of SSDI, and the child can still qualify for SSI benefits if her SSDI payments, which count as unearned income for SSI purposes, do not disqualify her/him.

Parents who have not begun to receive their own Social Security income but who think that their child may qualify for SSDI in the future may want to have their child screened by the Social Security system for his disability before he reaches age 22. If this is not possible, it pays to have the child’s physician clearly document all of the information surrounding the child’s disability from as early an age as possible. This way, when the parent does retire, the child has a long record showing the presence of the disabling condition before he/she turned 22, making the SSDI application easier.

Attorney Sheri Abrams can explain the rules for applying for SSDI and can give your family guidance if you think your child may qualify in the future.