What are disabled adult child (DAC) benefits?

If you as a parent are receiving benefits from the Social Security Administration (SSA) such as retirement benefits, disability benefits, or survivor benefits, then your child with a disability can apply to receive disabled adult child (DAC) benefits. They can receive both SSI and DAC.

Once your adult child has been receiving DAC for 24 months, they become eligible for Medicare in addition to whatever Medi-Cal they are getting.

DAC benefits continue as long as the person remains unable to earn substantial gainful employment (SGA). If your child works a job where they're earning more than SGA, they may lose their DAC benefits. The other way to lose DAC benefits is to get married (to someone who is not also receiving benefits) because DAC benefits are intended for single adults.