Editor’s note: The following article is originally published by First Focus on November 12, 2025 and is co-authored by Chad Bolt, Senior Vice President of Economic Security and Lily Klam, Senior Director of Early Childhood and Education Policy at First Focus. First Focus is a member of CHN.

Proposed rules, reductions in force, threaten roughly 100,000 children who rely on Supplemental Security Income, plus others in need of support and services at school, at home, in health care.

Supplemental Security Income, or SSI, is a lifeline for children with disabilities whose families have limited income and resources. Kids who rely on this benefit are now in the crosshairs of a new proposed rule from the Social Security Administration that estimates suggest could make it more difficult for as many as 100,000 children to qualify and stay qualified for their full monthly SSI benefit.

The proposed changes to SSI appear to be part of a larger agenda by the Trump Administration to disenfranchise children with disabilities. For instance, during the recent government shutdown, the Office of Management and Budget carried out massive reductions in force (RIFs) at agencies that oversee the majority of programs for children, and specifically targeted the Department of Education (ED) and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which serve large proportions of children with disabilities.

In addition to supporting basic needs such as food and housing, SSI helps cover the extra costs of raising a child with a disability, such as medical care, therapies, adaptive equipment, and transportation. For many families, SSI means the difference between stability and poverty, and allows children to grow up at home, stay connected to their communities, and access the care they need to reach their full potential. Nearly 1 million kids with disabilities — ranging from mental and neurodevelopmental conditions, musculoskeletal disorders such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy, nervous system disorders such as epilepsy, and vision or hearing impairments — rely on SSI to meet their basic needs.

The rules to qualify and stay qualified for SSI are complex, both for the beneficiary to follow and for the Social Security Administration to administer. One of the most complex rules concerns “in-kind support and maintenance” or “ISM.” This rule reduces a beneficiary’s monthly SSI benefit by as much as one-third if they receive support from a family member or loved one, including groceries or a place to stay.

Under current rules, children are exempt from this reduction to their SSI benefit when anyone in their household qualifies for certain public assistance programs, including SNAP. This exemption makes the program easier for SSA to administer and it means that SSI beneficiaries have less burdensome red tape to worry about. It also allows generational families to stay together and to administer care for elderly or disabled relatives under one roof without jeopardizing the benefits they need to make ends meet, or having to move anyone — either their child or disabled relatives — into institutionalized care.

Proposed rule signifies a major shift in policy

The Trump Administration’s proposed rule would eliminate SNAP from the list of programs that qualify households for the ISM exemption. It also would require all members of the household to qualify for public assistance, not just one member. This change would subject as many as 400,000 SSI beneficiaries — a quarter of them children —   to benefit reductions or, in many cases, the complete loss of benefits altogether.

The proposed rule is more than just a technical change in regulatory definition: it signifies an enormous shift in policy that will have serious implications for kids with disabilities. It will mean less stability and less of a financial cushion for caregivers to provide food and clothing, let alone therapies, adaptive equipment, home modifications, and other supports that these kids need to survive.

SSI’s statutory eligibility rules have gone without updating for more than 40 years, and lawmakers have finally secured bipartisan support to move the program forward for the first time in decades. This change in regulatory policy represents a huge step backward.

Children with disabilities bear the brunt of Trump Administration policy

The Trump Administration has not been favorable to children in general. President Trump has promoted and signed into law massive cuts to children’s health care, food assistance and other critical programs.  During the recent government shutdown, low-income children were singled out when the Administration went all the way to the Supreme Court fighting to withhold SNAP funding they’d been compelled to release.

Children with disabilities appear to be taking the brunt of many Trump Administration actions. In addition to the proposed changes to SSI benefit regulations, the Trump Administration gutted the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS) during last month’s RIFs, leaving it with just a handful of staff. OSERS is responsible for monitoring compliance and distributing funding for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the key law protecting the rights of students with disabilities in schools. These layoffs jeopardize the ability of ED to administer IDEA funding and to enforce protections for students with disabilities in schools.

These layoffs also would make it nearly impossible for the Department of Education to conduct its oversight process to ensure states are complying with IDEA. This is especially concerning as states aren’t sufficiently equipped to conduct this oversight by themselves to ensure districts are following the laws. For example, the most recent Department of Education review found that only 19 out of 50 states (38%) meet IDEA’s requirements. Recent significant reductions at the department’s Office for Civil rights will exacerbate this situation by making it incredibly difficult to enforce federal civil rights protections for students across the country. The deficient staffing at both OSERS and the Office for Civil Rights seriously threatens protections for students with disabilities. The move aligns with the Administration’s goal of moving IDEA from ED to HHS, which would remove the program from the supervision of seasoned education experts and disrupt existing parent support networks. Students with disabilities are general education students first — a majority of K-12 students with disabilities are under the instruction of general education teachers. Moving IDEA to HHS undermines the inclusion that students with disabilities deserve.

Funding cuts hit children in school, at home, in health care

Children with disabilities also suffered an enormous blow with the passage of H.R. 1 earlier this year, which cut nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Medicaid and CHIP cover roughly 2-in-5 children with special health care needs, and Medicaid is the only source of coverage for 1-in-3 children with special health care needs. As states grapple with the resulting, massive cost shift to their budgets, they will be forced to make impossible choices between maintaining coverage for “option” populations — including many children with disabilities — or cutting essential services.

H.R. 1’s cuts will also severely impact school-based health services, and the many children with disabilities who rely on them. Medicaid supports  more than $7.5 billion annually in school-based health programs. Schools rely on Medicaid reimbursement to provide services mandated under IDEA, including therapy services, mental health care, and specialized equipment for children with disabilities. As these funding streams disappear under H.R. 1, schools will be forced to choose between maintaining essential health services and other educational programs.

Children with disabilities have been left behind for far too long by existing federal policy, and these recent changes further harm them at a time when policymakers should be dedicating more resources to their development. SSI, IDEA, and Medicaid offer lifelines to children with disabilities who are insufficiently supported by current systems. Lawmakers are unnecessarily threatening protections for children with disabilities, and the Trump Administration and Congress must reverse course and instead protect and strengthen the rights of and supports for children with disabilities.