Last year, I brought up the fact that the Department of Children, Youth and Families (DCYF) was taking money from kids in state care.
It is the long-standing department policy to take federal benefits, like Social Security or veterans’ benefits, from children in state care to fund administrative costs and sustain DCYF’s bottom line.
Our state’s most vulnerable residents, children under care of the state with nothing, are being victimized to support cushy salaries and bloated, and sometimes unnecessary, department spending.
At the governor’s State of State speech, he promised affordability and more money in the pockets of Rhode Islanders. He spoke of ending taxes on Social Security, even though Social Security is currently not taxed on individuals making less than $110,000 a year in retirement, and ensuring that daily costs can be covered by what’s in a resident’s bank account.
But what about the kids that have nothing and no one to help and support them?
Do they not matter? Do they not count in the governor’s “affordability for all” budget plan?
As the chairwoman of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Children and Families, I was horrified when I learned about this DCYF practice. These benefits are meant to help children who have already endured extraordinary hardship, especially as they transition out of care without the safety nets most young people rely on. Instead, the state redirects those benefits to its own bottom line, often without the child or their advocate ever knowing the benefits existed in the first place.
I had hoped the governor would rectify this great injustice in his budget proposal, but sadly, this was just wishful thinking on my part.
Due to this disgraceful budget omission, I will once again be introducing legislation (2026-H 7051) that requires DCYF to establish segregated savings accounts for foster children receiving Social Security, Supplemental Security Income and veterans’ benefits, because this money belongs to these kids, not the state’s bureaucracy.
These kids have gotten a raw deal in life, and all too often, their benefits are tied to additional stresses and trauma that they have already experienced during their short lives. How is it right to take away this money from them, especially at times when these children need it the most?
Shame on the governor for once again ignoring our children in state care. “Affordability for all” is a lie if it doesn’t include these kids, whose money is being unjustly taken away by the state’s bureaucracy.
Julie A. Casimiro, a Democrat, represents District 31 in North Kingstown and Exeter and chairs the House Oversight Subcommittee on Children and Families.
