What is the Disabled Adult Child (DAC) Program?

A parent’s retirement, disability, or death often results in a loss of financial support for their dependents.  The Disabled Adult Child (DAC) program is designed to reduce the shock of the lost income by providing stipends to eligible dependent adult children of insured parents.

If the DAC program assists the children of the insured, who is considered to be a “child” under the Title II of the Social Security Act (Act)?  In other words, does a “child” have to be the parent’s biological child to qualify?  Fortunately, the answer is no.  In addition to a “natural child,” the following categories of adult children may qualify under the Act: a legally adopted child, a stepchild, a grandchild, a step-grandchild, or an equitably adopted child.  (An equitable adoption exists when a prospective parent promises to adopt someone but the legal adoption has not yet been completed.)

In addition to having an insured parent, a successful DAC claimant must satisfy the following basic requirements: (1) the claimant must have been continuously disabled since childhood, i.e., since before the claimant’s twenty-second birthday; (2) the insured parent must be disabled, retired, or deceased; (3) the claimant must be financially dependent on the insured person; (4) the claimant must be unmarried; and (5) the claimant must apply for DAC benefits.

To better understand the practical application of these requirements, consider the following profile of a fictional DAC claimant.  A twenty-seven year-old single man was diagnosed with a severe intellectual disability (formerly called mental retardation) when he was seven years-old.  He lives still with his mother, a retired physician, who receives Social Security.  

Is it likely that the man will qualify for DAC benefits? The answer is yes, assuming that he submits an application and that his application and the supporting materials show that he is unable to work on a full-time basis; he meets all of the other DAC requirements: He has been continuously disabled since childhood, he has an insured parent, he is a unmarried, and he is dependent on his mother (because the law presumes that natural children are dependent on their parents).