Claim Raven explanation
What this means
VA decides whether a child became permanently incapable of self-support because of a physical or mental condition by age 18. The decision is based on the individual record, not the rating schedule used for veterans.
A short period of work after incapacity was established does not necessarily end the analysis when the same condition caused the incapacity and no intervening disease or injury was a major factor. The nature of the work and why it stopped matter.
How this helps your claim
Earnings can be strong evidence of capacity for self-support, but the rule distinguishes sustained self-support from casual, intermittent, trial, unsuccessful, disability-terminated, sympathetic, or charitable employment. Lack of work alone does not prove incapacity.
What to check in your records
Focus the evidence on the child’s functioning and capacity at age 18, while using later records only to clarify the condition and its course.
- Gather medical, school, functional, and support records from before and around the child’s eighteenth birthday.
- For each job, record duties, hours, earnings, accommodations, duration, and why it ended.
- Describe daily activities in the home and community and whether they were comparable to work that could provide reasonable support.
Document function, not only diagnoses
A diagnosis identifies a condition. The rule asks whether the condition made the child permanently incapable of self-support by age 18. Records about supervision, attendance, task completion, communication, transportation, and money management can help describe that functional question.
Explain work attempts accurately. A job obtained through family help or charity can still show activity, but the regulation asks whether it involved substantial services and provided enough income for reasonable support.
Does any employment after age 18 defeat the claim?
No. VA examines whether the work actually showed capacity for self-support. Brief, failed, intermittent, accommodated, or disability-ended work may not rebut incapacity that was already established.
Official regulatory text
38 CFR § 3.356
eCFR snapshot: 2026-09-17. Layout and spacing are adapted for reading. The full section and its tables are included below.
§ 3.356 Conditions which determine permanent incapacity for self-support.
(a) Basic determinations. A child must be shown to be permanently incapable of self-support by reason of mental or physical defect at the date of attaining the age of 18 years.
(b) Rating criteria. Rating determinations will be made solely on the basis of whether the child is permanently incapable of self-support through his own efforts by reason of physical or mental defects. The question of permanent incapacity for self-support is one of fact for determination by the rating agency on competent evidence of record in the individual case. Rating criteria applicable to disabled veterans are not controlling. Principal factors for consideration are:
(1) The fact that a claimant is earning his or her own support is prima facie evidence that he or she is not incapable of self-support. Incapacity for self-support will not be considered to exist when the child by his or her own efforts is provided with sufficient income for his or her reasonable support.
(2) A child shown by proper evidence to have been permanently incapable of self-support prior to the date of attaining the age of 18 years, may be so held at a later date even though there may have been a short intervening period or periods when his or her condition was such that he or she was employed, provided the cause of incapacity is the same as that upon which the original determination was made and there were no intervening diseases or injuries that could be considered as major factors. Employment which was only casual, intermittent, tryout, unsuccessful, or terminated after a short period by reason of disability, should not be considered as rebutting permanent incapability of self-support otherwise established.
(3) It should be borne in mind that employment of a child prior or subsequent to the delimiting age may or may not be a normal situation, depending on the educational progress of the child, the economic situation of the family, indulgent attitude of parents, and the like. In those cases where the extent and nature of disability raises some doubt as to whether they would render the average person incapable of self-support, factors other than employment are for consideration. In such cases there should be considered whether the daily activities of the child in the home and community are equivalent to the activities of employment of any nature within the physical or mental capacity of the child which would provide sufficient income for reasonable support. Lack of employment of the child either prior to the delimiting age or thereafter should not be considered as a major factor in the determination to be made, unless it is shown that it was due to physical or mental defect and not to mere disinclination to work or indulgence of relatives or friends.
(4) The capacity of a child for self-support is not determinable upon employment afforded solely upon sympathetic or charitable considerations and which involved no actual or substantial rendition of services.
Cross Reference:
Basic pension and eligibility determinations. See § 3.314.
[26 FR 1590, Feb. 24, 1961, as amended at 38 FR 871, Jan. 5, 1973]
Related references
- 38 CFR § 3.209: Evidence of birth, age, and family relationship
- 38 CFR § 3.210: How VA establishes a child’s relationship to a veteran
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