Guardianship Estate of Keffeler v. Department of Social & Health Services

The plaintiff class asks us to hold the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) violated that provision of the Social Security Act (the Act), 42 U.S.C. § 407(a) which forbids creditor access to Social Security benefits. Here DSHS acts as a representative payee under 42 U.S.C. § 405(j) for foster children and then applies the Social Security benefits to reimburse the state budget for payments made to foster parents for the basic needs of those children. We are also asked if DSHS’s actions deprived the foster children of their property absent due process and abridged…