Social Security mistakenly said her son was dead, now a Dallas mom is fighting to get his benefits back

DALLAS - A North Texas mother says she was shocked to receive a letter from the Social Security Administration declaring that her very much alive son was dead.

Since getting the letter, Shena Craine says trying to get her autistic son's benefits restored has been a six-month-long nightmare.

"We're trying to get this person, right here, who's rocking, back to life," said Brenda Craine, the teen's grandmother.

18-year-old Elijah Craine does not say a lot, but his mom and grandma describe him as a big teddy bear.

He attends North Dallas High School and loves watching videos of cars along highways.

His grandmother serves as a caretaker for both Elijah and his mother who has multiple sclerosis.

The first sign of trouble came from one of Elijah's support care services.

"I got a call from his agency not to clock-in because they were not getting to get paid," said Brenda.

It turns out multiple agencies and Elijah's high school were getting notices from the Social Security Administration (SSA) of his death.

"What really shocked me, it says we are sorry Sirelijah M. Craine, died. Sept. 15, 2022. Died!" Brenda said.

The Craines received the letter in February and more than six months later they are still trying to get the SSA to acknowledge that Elijah is alive.

"It baffles me, that it is taking so long, it took you probably 5 seconds to mess it up," said Brenda.

"I call every Monday and Friday, nothing ever changed," said Shena.

When the Craines contacted FOX 4, we reached out to the Social Security Administration's contact for the news media.

The Dallas region's communication director quickly responded in an email:

"We will reach out to Ms. Craine right away to provide assistance […] of these millions of death reports we receive each year, less than one-third of 1 percent are subsequently corrected."

Shena Craine was asked to come to the regional office for an appointment again.

"We have been there at least 7 times," Brenda said.

While they still do not know how the mix-up happened, the Craines hope this time will be different.

"When are you going to rectify this and say we are sorry for the mistake we've made?" Brenda exclaimed.

The Craines say the Social Security office has not been able to see where the original death notification came from, but employees said it could have been an error when someone else's Social Security Number was entered into the system.

SSA tells us that death notifications come from states as well as funeral homes, federal agencies and financial institutions.