My husband and I have custody of our niece and nephew until there 18yrs old. Their mother just got approve for ssd can these children draw a check off hers and if so what do we need to do? Do we file for the kids or does she? Help please

She needs to file for the kids and have you named payee for the kids. Have her go down to the Social Security Office in perosn with their birth certificates and her ID and sign them up.

Her SSD covers her only, and won't be enough to provide support.
It would be reasonable to ask her how much she's getting, and if a retroactive payment is coming, often several months worth. She might be willing to give you some of it. I doubt that she has to, but could be wrong, since I don't know the custody terms.

What type of custody do you have? Full, partial, temporary, permanent, adopted, court ordered. You should be eligible for child support payments from both parents. If the children went through the court system then they should have a case manager or advocate. The children could qualify on their own for coverage such as health care and food stamps. You may have access to foster care benefits. You owe it to the children to get every benefit available to them and make it as financially easy for you as possible. I am sending you a hug over the internet, I highly commend you for raising your relatives children. It's almost that time of year, make sure you are the only one claiming them as dependents, you will get a pretty decent tax return.