Excuse Me! What Is The Orphan Tax? (ft. Alex Adams)

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When a child loses a parent, Social Security pays them a survivor benefit their mom or dad earned through years of work. But if that child ends up in foster care, many states have been quietly taking that money for themselves. Tim Walz once said those benefits gave him dignity growing up. Minnesota is still one of 13 hold-out states stealing these funds from orphans today. Assistant Secretary Alex Adams is trying to put an end to it. The “Orphan Tax” is only one of the messes he inherited at the Administration for Children and Families, but since his arrival, the ACF has become one of the most talked-about departments in all of HHS, both for their ruthless red tape cutting and also for…