Nothing and nobody can make it painless to lose a parent in childhood.

But the hardship of being plunged into poverty because of losing a family breadwinner,

Social Security can prevent that, or at least

it was supposed to. From KERA in Dallas, this is Think. I'm Chris Boyd. The program best known

for keeping retirees afloat is also set up as a source of guaranteed income for the children

of workers who die before their kids are grown. But as my guest

has learned, fewer than half of kids who qualify actually receive the help. Chabelli Carazana

is the economy and child care reporter at the 19th, where you can read her article. Widows are

waiting months for the benefits meant to help them after loss. Jabelli, welcome back to think.

Thank you so much for having me.

I don't want to assume everybody knows what survivor benefits even are.

Will you explain how this part of the Social Security system works for children and also,

I guess, for spouses, right?

Yes, sure.

So survivor benefits are available to the surviving, typically

the spouse and children of a worker who has passed. Now, depending on the age of that surviving

spouse, and depending on the age of the children, is going to be, it's going to sort of determine

how much they're going to get from however much that worker had in Social Security at the time of their

death. But typically, it's a monthly payment that folks are entitled to. Kids are entitled to

this up until the time that they turn 18. And for a lot of folks, these survivor benefits are really, like you said,

Chris, a lifeline, particularly because the majority of the people who are getting these benefits

are women, something like 92 percent of those getting young survivors benefits are women, as well

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