James Wood’s mother struggled with addiction, and he often found himself adrift, not knowing what day or month it was. When James was 14, his mother died of pneumonia, and he entered California’s foster care system. As a minor with a deceased parent and a disability, James was entitled to federal benefits, totaling $780 a month, some of which his mother had accrued during the years that she worked as a nurse. The government got the money instead, according to James and his adoptive father, Wayne Stidham. It’s a longstanding practice for many states or counties to apply for the federal benefits of foster children, often without their knowledge, and then use the money to cover some of the costs of their care, according to legal advocates for children and congressional researchers.

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