A major Social Security benefit may come your way if you have kids later in life — ‘We were really floored’

Raising a kid for 18 years costs $303,418 after tax exemptions and credits, according to a LendingTree analysis. That doesn’t include the cost of college or supporting a child after the age of 18.

About one in three (33%) Americans under the age of 35 still live with their parents as of 2025, according to research from Realtor.com. Of those aged 18 to 24, a whopping 57.6% still lived at home.

That means more parents could find themselves supporting their kids financially as they head into their retirement years, maybe even diverting money into college funds rather than retirement savings.

The good news? There’s a major Social Security benefit for parents who’ve had kids later in life.

Benefits for dependents

When John Bonadeo, a 72-year-old semi-retired general contractor, called Social Security to collect his benefits, he was asked if he had dependents under 18.

He does. Bonadeo and his wife, Betty McDonald, adopted six children when they were in their 50s. That meant he’d receive an additional $600 each month as part of his benefit.

“We were really floored,” McDonald, 69, told The Wall Street Journal.

Here’s how it works: Social Security provides benefits to children under the age of 18 whose parents are retired, deceased or have a disability. An eligible child can receive up to 50% of the full retirement benefit until they turn 18. If the child is still in high school, benefits continue until they graduate or two months after they reach age 19 (whichever comes first).

There’s a cap, though. The maximum family payment is capped at between 150% and 188%, depending on your Social Security benefit computation. After that, the child’s shares are reduced proportionately, though the parent’s benefit remains the same.

Not all families are aware of this perk, though many could benefit from it.

Thanks to advancements in reproductive health, more parents are having children later in life. There’s also an increasing number of ‘grandfamilies,’ where grandparents step in as primary caregivers.

Of households headed by someone between the ages of 55 and 64, 10.8% had a child under the age of 18, according to 2024 census data. Of households headed by someone 65 and over, 2.1% had their own child or children under the age of 18. That’s a small percentage, but still noteworthy, especially since it doesn’t include grandfamilies.

Nearly one-third (32.7%) of Americans living with grandchildren under the age of 18 were responsible for their care, according to census data.

That means if you’re an older parent or grandparent raising young children, deciding when to claim your Social Security retirement benefit becomes slightly more complicated.

Doing the math

You can begin collecting your benefit at age 62, but you won’t receive the full amount until you reach full retirement age (FRA) at 67. You can delay your benefit up to age 70, receiving an 8% annual bump for each year you wait past your FRA.

If you collect your benefit before your FRA, you’ll receive a lower monthly check for life (to make up for the fact that you’re collecting benefits for a longer stretch of time). At 62, your check will be 30% lower than at your FRA.

If you have young children, the earlier you collect, the more payments you’ll receive for your children (until they age out). If you wait to collect, then you’ll receive fewer payments for your children, though you’ll also receive a larger monthly check for life. The earlier combined payments could outweigh a delayed higher benefit, but they might not, depending on your circumstances.

There are several factors to consider, such as the age of your child or children (and how much longer they have left to collect benefits) as well as your own life expectancy. Claiming early will also permanently lower future survivor benefits.

Another consideration is whether a second parent will also be claiming a retirement benefit. If that’s the case, the lower earner could file early, allowing the household to start receiving the child’s benefit payments. The higher earner could wait to collect until FRA or later, which would ensure a permanently larger future benefit.

If the child is still a dependent when the higher earner files at a later date, the child will then move to the higher record and receive a higher benefit amount.