## Facts

- Ryan W. was adjudicated a child in need of assistance (CINA) and placed in the custody of the Baltimore City Department of Social Services.
- After Ryan’s parents died while he was in foster care, Ryan became entitled to Social Security survivor (OASDI) benefits.
- The Department applied to the Social Security Administration (SSA) to be appointed as Ryan’s representative payee and was appointed.
- The Department received Ryan’s monthly benefits and used them to reimburse itself for part of Ryan’s foster-care maintenance costs rather than conserving the funds for Ryan’s future transition out of care.
- Ryan filed a motion in the juvenile case asserting the Department failed to make an individualized best-interests determination and should have conserved the benefits for his later independent use.

## Issues

1. Whether an SSA-appointed representative payee that is also a child-welfare agency may apply a CINA foster child’s OASDI benefits to reimburse the agency for the child’s current maintenance costs.
2. Whether Maryland law requires the agency to obtain juvenile-court approval before applying for or spending the child’s OASDI benefits.
3. Whether due process or equal protection requires notice and an opportunity to be heard before the agency uses the child’s benefits.

## Decision

- The Court of Appeals held the Department, as an SSA-appointed institutional representative payee, had discretion to use Ryan’s OASDI benefits to reimburse itself for current maintenance costs consistent with federal Social Security regulations.
- The court rejected a requirement of juvenile-court preauthorization for either seeking representative-payee status or spending benefits for current maintenance.
- The court rejected a constitutional requirement of a pre-deprivation evidentiary hearing before spending the benefits.
- The court required the Department to provide notice to the child and/or the child’s legal representative that it applied for and received benefits on the child’s behalf.
- The court affirmed in part and reversed in part the intermediate appellate judgment, undoing the constructive-trust remedy to the extent inconsistent with the Department’s lawful authority and the notice-based procedural protection.

## Legal Principles

- Federal Social Security law and regulations govern representative-payee appointment and grant the appointed payee discretion to use benefits for the beneficiary’s “use and benefit,” including “current maintenance” (e.g., food, shelter, clothing, medical care), and may permit reimbursement to an institution for those costs.
- A state juvenile court may not impose state-law conditions that effectively override federally granted representative-payee discretion (such as categorical court preapproval requirements) for uses permitted by federal law.
- Maryland’s CINA and family-law framework does not bar a local department, acting as representative payee, from applying OASDI benefits to current foster-care maintenance and does not require juvenile-court permission for that use.
- Although a foster child has protectable interests, due process does not require a pre-expenditure hearing in this setting; a notice requirement provides a meaningful opportunity for oversight and challenge through appropriate channels.
- The Department must give notice to the child and/or the child’s legal representative that it sought and is receiving OASDI benefits as representative payee, enabling monitoring and potential objections in the juvenile proceeding.

## Conclusion

The court held that a local department of social services appointed by SSA as a foster child’s representative payee may use the child’s OASDI survivor benefits to pay current foster-care maintenance costs without prior juvenile-court authorization or a pre-spending hearing, but it must notify the child and/or the child’s legal representative that it applied for and is receiving the benefits.


In re Ryan W., 76 A.3d 1049 (Md. 2013)