Social Security was meant to protect elderly Americans from the financial vicissitudes of growing old. Eighty years later, the safety net championed by President Franklin D. Roosevelt is protecting some younger people, too.
About 6.4 million kids, or almost 1 in 10 Americans under the age of 18, rely on checks from Social Security. The fastest growth is among indirect beneficiaries, especially kids who live with grandparents collecting the federal benefit. According to a new report by the Center for Global Policy Solutions, more than 3.2 million children were indirect recipients in 2014, up 48 percent from 2001. Another 3.2 million children receive Social Security directly because their parents or guardians have died, are disabled, or are old enough to retire. The number of minors in this category was up 6 percent since 2001, according to the report by the Center, a liberal-leaning Washington think tank.
