Youth in Foster Care—
Vulnerability and Responses
Howard Davidson, J.D.
Director, ABA Center on Children and the Law
Howard.Davidson@americanbar.org
Child Welfare Agencies Responding
to Child Identity Theft
U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime
April 10, 2013
Why Foster Kids Are At Heightened
Vulnerability For Identity Theft
1.
Personal information of children in foster care
(including Social Security Number) is more
accessible
2.
Misuse of their identities is far more likely to
go unidentified for longer
3.
Children who are abused or neglected may
have family members that misuse their identity
4.
Many foster children have parents with severe
substance abuse and mental health issues, making
identity misuse to “pay bills” or “make
purchases” more probable
5.
Many foster children change settings frequently –
thus their “personal data” changes hands often
6.
Identity theft discovery has been a low-priority
issue for many child welfare agencies
7.
Foster kids generally don’t have “family
advocates” to help them
8.
Child welfare agencies have not (until recently)
routinely looked into foster children’s possible
credit problems, even during their “transition
period” before emancipation
9.
If a youth only learns about the theft of their
identity after emancipation, it can negatively
affect their successful transition to adulthood
Law and Policy Responses
Federal Law (P.L. 112–34 September 2011)
… each child in foster care under the responsibility
of the State who has attained 16 years of age
receives without cost a copy of any consumer
report (as defined in section 603(d) of the Fair
Credit Reporting Act) pertaining to the child each
year until the child is discharged from care, and
receives assistance (including, when feasible, from
any court-appointed advocate for the child) in
interpreting and resolving any inaccuracies in the
report.
Children’s Bureau New Program
Instruction on Identity Theft Checks
ACYF-CB-PI-12-07 (5/8/12)
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/cb/laws_
policies/policy/pi/2012/pi1207.pdf
Advises states on how to comply with the 2011
federal law (IV-E) requirement to do annual credit
reporting agency checks (from all 3 of these
agencies) for all foster youth age 16 and older
State Title IV-E agencies were required to submit
their Title IV-E plan amendment to show
compliance with this requirement by August 13,
2012
I’ve found 8 state laws that have addressed this:
CA (2006); CO (2011); CT (2010); DC (2010);
DE (2013); IL (2010); TX (2011); VA (2012)
And I know of 12 child welfare agencies that have
policies on obtaining foster child credit reports:
- IN (pre-federal law, in 2009 – had the first
mandate to assist in requesting free credit reports
for foster youth - in their child welfare manual)
Other 11 (AK, KY, MD, MO, NE, NY, ND, OR,
RI, VA, WA)
- Policies vary in terms of follow up if credit
discrepancies are found (e.g., reporting to
prosecutor or A.G., referring for credit counseling,
using annualcreditreport.com, consulting with
child’s GAL, having a central state-level office
resolve problems, consulting with the Identity Theft
Resource Center)
PENDING MARYLAND LEGISLATION
MD HB1125 (2013) – Unfavorably reported 3/20 by
Judiciary Comm. -- Would have required the state
child welfare agency to assist children in
obtaining a police-issued “Identity Theft Passport
for all I.D. theft victims in foster care or in the care
state’s Juvenile Services agency
MD HB1297 (2013) –Came close to becoming law –
Would have required each local child welfare
agency to request a “Security Freeze” on credit
reports/records of children in foster care (would
have amended Maryland’s unique parentinitiated Child Identity Lock law)
How Laws Differ Regarding Checking
for Foster Child Identity Theft
•
The age when first “credit check” is to be made, and
whether re-check is made annually
•
Whether checks can be to just one, or to all three
national credit reporting agencies
•
Doing checks for all under 21 youth in independent
living programs
•
Using contracted providers to review and repair
child’s credit
•
Requiring report to legislature on implementation
and whether new legislative or regulatory action is
needed
•
What remedial actions must be taken if a “bad
credit entry” is found, and who must be notified
of the credit check result
•
Which youth are excluded from having their
credit checked
•
Development of forms for doing the checks
•
Assigning IDs other than SSNs as children enter
foster care, and reviewing all requests for the SSN
and limiting that access
•
Provision of agency immunity in connection with
credit checking/assisting
Several Issues and Concerns
We need to know:
1) The cost of doing credit checks for large numbers
of foster children
2) what % of inquiries result in “bad hits”
3) how difficult it is to make credit “corrections”
4) who bears the cost of the checking and correcting
We need to be asking former foster youth what they think
should be done regarding both identity theft checks
and the broader and more important issue of youth
financial literacy
Withholding SSNs from foster parents, as an identity
theft protection measure, can deprive foster children of
financial support through foster parent tax benefits
Accessing Materials from
February 2013 Forum on
Child Identity Theft
http://ovc.ncjrs.gov/ovcproviderforum/asp/
news.asp#itac