SSI Benefits

WASHINGTON (CN) - Blind or disabled children who have been left by their parents but still live with a step parent qualify for Supplemental Security Income as if they did not live with a step parent, according to a new Social Security Administration regulation.

Once the biological or adoptive parent is gone a step parent is no longer deemed to be using his or her income on behalf of the child.

The policy is a response to a decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals, whose Justice Florez based the ruling on the regulations' definition of spouse, which includes someone living in the same household.

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