United Brachial Plexus Network, Inc.

Im trying to get SSI for jade for the second time. does any body have any advice. Tina could you email that stuff again.

Crystal

This is The Blue Book link
http://www.ssa.gov/disability/professio ... ntents.htm

It is located on the SS web site.

Hope its a start good luck.
Kath

I was just wondering...(If anyone wants to answer privately to my e-mail they can)...
Has any child with a BPI been awarded SSI?
We applied about 8 years ago and were denied...the reason they gave was because he was still a child, he could learn to do some job later...I could be wrong but I believe that is what the work incentive program is for...Maybe I'm wrong...but I kind of feel like some kids may be slipping through some cracks here....As I said it was years ago and we haven't applied recently but what about the problems that aren't easily seen or diagnosed...like the problems writting...being able to do part of a job but not all...Not being able to pass through school for one reason or another, etc? Missed school because of ongoing therapy, pain etc...
Does anyone understand where I'm coming from? I feel like I know what I mean but I'm not sure I can put it all into words.
T.

We were able to get SSI benefits for Rain at one time. It was a long process, but that is expected. One thing I think that it is important to do it to have very thorough medical records. Keep copies of you child's medical records, therapy records, surgery notes, and anything else that is related to the injury. Make sure that you child is seeing a doctor regularly because the SS Administation does not like to see any lapse in treatment. They like to see that your child is at least seeing a specialist on a monthly basis at least. That is impossible for alot of us since we are not in the same city as the specialist may be. The thing about this is that there are no codes in the computers of the SSA that apply to bpi's so they have absolutely no idea what they are dealing with. I encountered that problem when we applied. The program for children and SSI is based also on the income of the parents. So even if they determine that your child is disabled, if your household income is to high your child will still be denied. When they make the determination regarding who qualifies and who does not they try to determine how badly the child is injured as compared to the average child with this injury. I of course questioned that because I said to the caseworker that, you don't even have a code in your computer for this injury, you have no idea what it even is, and now you tell me that the determination is based on averages. Well that made no sense to me at all. She of course had no answer and never really even addressed my comment. We applied initially and we were denied. Then I retained an attorney, and we went through the reconsideration stage and we were approved. Rain received benefits until she received her settlement from her lawsuit. Once she settled her lawsuit they determined that she now had to many resources and she was denied any other benefits. They also made us pay back some of the money that she had been paid. They made us pay back all of the money gotten in the month of December because that is when her trust was set up. Also, along with the money that the child will get they will also get supplemental Medicaide which will help with some of the doctors appointments, therapy and surgery expenses if necessary. My advice is to just be persistent. It is a battle, but anything worth having is not just handed to you. If you have any other questions feel free to email me.

DeShawn

crystal,
we were able to get ssi benefits for marlin, it does take a long time and from what i've heard most people are unsuccessful after all of that , you will be denied innitially and you will have to go through the appeals process. at our appeal hearing the judge would not let john or marlin come into the room. i had to do the testimony alone. i had all of her medical records in evidence already but i brought along more information from tch describing the injury and how disabling it can be. i highlighted the things that i thought would be informative so that they would not have to read through a lot of stuff that is not relevant to the disability. one thing to remember is that to have a child who is eligible for disability there must be marked functional deficits, which means that she might not be able to dress herself or feed herself with out assistance. which at our children's ages they are fully doing that anyway. also you have to be able to demonstrate that these disabilites will have long term effects etc., read through the information that ssi gives you regarding what points are necessary for qualifing and prepare a response for each. we did not use an attorney and the judge was impressed with that. the outcome of our case was fully favorable, which means that on the seven issues on which she was evaluated they found that she qualified. you may get a verdict that is partially favorable or unfavorable. at any rate our judge found that she would qualify until age five when she would be evaluated again. i think he picked that amount of time because of the information that i gave him from tch saying that the long term effects of the injury could not be known until that time. it will take about a year- good luck!!!