Utah Bill Would ‘Lock Up’ Kids’ SSNs

When Brooklyn Roush was 4, her parents discovered that her identity had been stolen. Someone was employed under her Social Security number and earning $40,000 a year.

Five years later, Roush’s family is still trying to undo the damage, according to the Deseret News of Salt Lake City.

Roush and other victims of identity theft recently shared their stories and support for a new bill introduced by Utah State Rep. Eric Hutchings. The bill would use the state’s existing identity theft education and reporting Web site, called IRIS, to help parents “lock up” their children’s Social Security numbers to prevent unauthorized use or disclosure.

One in 20 children have been the victims of identity theft, averaging $12,000 in wrongly incurred debt, according to an October 2008 study by Javelin Strategy and Research. The proliferation of ID crimes against young people, from infants to teenagers, was also the subject of a Newsweek story last year. Foster children are particularly vulnerable, because they move around a lot and their personal data passes through many hands. And last year, the Identity Theft Resource Center in San Diego estimated that half the 84,000 foster children in California’s system have been victimized.

The damage can be just as great as with adult victims, only it takes children longer to get their cases untangled, because it could be years before they even notice anything’s amiss. Once they reach young adulthood and try to establish good credit, they may find that someone has already racked up charges in their names.

This came into focus for Utah lawmaker Hutchings when his youngest child was born three years ago, the Desert News reported. Hospital staff brought in paperwork for the parents to sign, including an application for an SSN. Hutchings says he looked for a box on the form that would prevent the child’s number from being seen by anyone, but there wasn’t such a check-off.

“You have to create one,” Hutchings said. “You have to put it out there and make your child vulnerable, and there's nothing you can do about it.”

During a news conference at the Capitol, Roush’s parents touted the bill. When her father had just lost his job he tried to enroll his then 4-year-old daughter in the state’s Child Health Insurance Program. But the application was denied. That’s how he found out the girl’s identity had been stolen.

“I think it's not very nice that people are ruining kids’ futures,” said Brooklyn Roush, now 9. “It makes me really sad that people do that.”