“Could Social Security Child Benefits Help Grandparent Caregivers?”
by Siyan Liu and Laura D. Quinby
The brief's key findings are:
- Grandparents raising grandchildren are often under financial stress but – without legal custody – tend to get little formal support.
- Importantly, Social Security child benefits are only available to those who are legal dependents of Social Security beneficiaries.
- In contrast, the IRS does not require legal custody to claim a child as a dependent for tax purposes.
- The analysis estimates the impact of aligning Social Security’s rules with the IRS criteria on grandparent caregivers.
- The results show that this change would substantially boost the incomes of half of all grandparent caregiver households.
