Public Benefits

First Focus, a bipartisan advocacy group, has recently published it's Children's Budget 2008, a guide to over 180 children's programs which are funded by the federal government.

While there is no such thing as a "typical" divorce, a divorcing couple that has a child with special needs faces even more complicated issues than most, such as the impact of child support payments on the child's eligibility for SSI.

When parents of a child with special needs divorce, income and custody could negatively affect the child's government benefits. Here are several things to look for in regards to this complicated issue.

An overlooked portion of recent Medicare legislation promises Medicare recipients greater access to mental health benefits.

In a recent report the Social Security Administration's Inspector General concludes that banks are illegally garnishing accounts that receive electronic deposits of Social Security benefits.

A special education school in Massachusetts is being allowed to continue its practice of administering electric shocks to students after a prank caller ordered two students to be given shocks.

An Arkansas appeals court has ruled that a father may end child support payments to his adult son with special needs after the son's move to a group home where his Supplemental Security Income (SSI) now covers his monthly expenses.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently heard oral arguments in a case that questions just how much money a state can actually recover when it comes time to collect its Medicaid lien on a personal injury award.

A federal court has ruled that cutting off Medicaid home care benefits to a woman with special needs, thus forcing her into an institution, likely violates the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act. Fisher v. Maram (U.S. Dist.