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Payments made under the Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act of 1988 (f8) are excluded for all programs. There must be a presidentially declared disaster for these payments to be excluded. 2835.30.00 FOSTER CARE AND ADOPTION ASSISTANCE PAYMENTS

The following section describes SNAP program specific policy on foster care and adoption assistance payments for children and adults received from any agency. For additional information regarding foster care payments and adoption assistance, refer to Section 3210.15.05.20 (for S) and 3215.05.20 (for C). 2835.30.05 FOSTER CARE PAYMENTS (S)

Foster care payments for children or adults are included as unearned income if the foster care child or adult is included as a SNAP AG member. Should the AG choose to exclude the foster care child or adult, the income will not be counted. The child or adult will be treated as a boarder.

In this instance, however, the income from the foster boarder is not counted as boarder income. It must be totally excluded if the foster child/adult is not included as an AG member. (f9) 2835.35.00 SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME

The following sections discuss program specific policy on the inclusion or exclusion of income received from the Supplemental Security Income (SSI) program.

SSI benefits are available through the Social Security Administration under Title XVI of the Social Security Act to individuals aged 65 or older, blind, or disabled, and who meet specific income and resource requirements.

Individuals who have never paid into the Social Security program may be eligible for SSI as well as individuals who are receiving RSDI in an amount less than the current SSI maximum benefit. Refer to Section 2890.10.10 for appropriate verification sources. 2835.35.05 SUPPLEMENTAL SECURITY INCOME (S)

SSI assistance payments are included as unearned income. (f10) SSI benefits recouped by SSA that are not received by the household are not counted as income. An exception is a recoupment due to fraud. The SSI recoupment amount is to be listed in the eligibility system.

All SSI payments to individuals whose disability is based on Drug Addiction and/or Alcoholism (DAA) are required to be paid to a representative payee. Some organizations act as the representative payee but charge a fee for providing payee services. For SNAP, the amount of the fee which the representative payee withholds from the funds it receives on behalf of the SSI recipient is not counted as income. (f11)