A cop asked for my social security number after filing a missing child report (my child returned) and I was told it is procedure, how true is this?

Question

I made a missing child report 10-23-24 (my child as returned by the way) but the cop asked for my social security number (and my daughters) and told me that was the procedure. How true is that, because after giving my SSN and they left I felt I wasn’t supposed to be asked that? Please correct me if I’m wrong.

Answer 1

Short Answer

How true is that, because after giving my SSN and they left I felt I wasn’t supposed to be asked that?

Don't worry about it. This is very normal and there are legitimate reasons for asking.

Long Answer

Court records and child protective services records are often indexed by Social Security number (SSN). This allows law enforcement to confirm that there aren't protective orders, custody decrees, active abuse and neglect cases, death certificates, etc. that they need to be aware of but haven't been informed about by the person making the report (who may not even be aware of them).

Names aren't nearly as good for indexing records because there are common given names, some ethnicities have a few very common surnames, and there are many variant spellings of names. Also, sometimes when a child has parents or caretaking relatives with different surnames the child will go by different surnames at different times (e.g., that was the experience of Vice President-elect J.D. Vance, who is a man who has gone by several surnames during his life).

SSNs can also be used to confirm that you are who you say you are and not someone trying to sow mischief, and assists in prosecuting someone for making a false report if you misidentify yourself.

The wariness comes from sometimes over the top efforts of mostly divorced or never married co-parents (and sometimes other relatives in caretaker roles or supporting other co-parent family members) to manipulate law enforcement and child protection officials for malicious reasons to harass their exs and to gain advantage in child custody related cases (sometimes hoping for a "where's there's smoke, there's fire" reaction from a family court judge or magistrate or social worker or child and family investigator). This kind of outright manipulation and fraud of authorities related to children isn't all that common, but when you have tens of millions of children in this situation and these kinds of tactics come up in maybe 2-3% of cases, these proxy wars between parents can overwhelm legitimate missing person report cases in almost any law enforcement agency.

I don't do a lot of chid custody work, so I haven't seen it often, but talking to people who do and seeing media reports, I'm well aware that it happens.

Police especially don't want to have egg on their faces after issuing high profile Amber Alert or other high profile announcements to the general public without confirming that the case is legitimate first.

It is almost never illegal for law enforcement to ask for (and receive and use) SSNs in connection with an ongoing criminal or missing persons investigation.

The main problem with this requirement is that there are something on the order of ten million undocumented immigrants in the United States, many of whom are children or have U.S. born children who are U.S. citizens and sometimes something happens to them that law enforcement needs to intervene to help deal with. And, if a parent and/or child doesn't have an SSN and that prevents an investigation from going forward, that child who may be in a dangerous situation may suffer.

Also, not ever resident of the United States has a Social Security number (it is not required unless it is needed for some particular tax related purpose), although the requirement that Social Security numbers be provided on tax returns to claim the child tax credit and other tax benefits related to dependent children has dramatically reduced the number of children who do not have an SSN.

If you already have and know your SSN and your child's SSN, there is really no harm in sharing this information with law enforcement, and if a report containing the SSNs is disclosed to the public or third-parties without a need to know, the SSNs are usually redacted before the report is disclosed.

As a practical matter, there is only so much you can do to keep an SSN private. Employers need it. Tax authorities need it. People whom you do independent contractor work need it. Most welfare benefit agencies need it. Lenders who want to do credit checks before extending you credit, or who work with credit reporting agencies, need it. Banks and financial institutions need it. Real estate closing firms need it. Courts in divorces and child related lawsuits need it. Coroners need it. The Social Security program needs it. Jails and prisons need it. It is sometimes needed for state IDs. Lawyers distributing inheritances and trust funds need it. The military needs it for veteran's benefits. This isn't information that can be kept ultra-top secret, and if you contact law enforcement first you can be pretty confident that they are legitimate (although, of course, there is always that ultra-rare super sophisticated scammer to let you know that no amount of caution is perfect protection from fraud). Most of the people you have to give your SSN to by law are less trustworthy than law enforcement officers are in this context.

In short, don't worry about being asked for you or your child's SSN. When your child is missing, this isn't something you should be worried about when talking to bona fide law enforcement officers.

If indeed you are unfortunate enough to be dealing with a bad cop who is willing to harm you or your child, misuse of your SSN or your child's SSN is the least of your worries. (I considered linking to some examples of that, but thought better of that idea. Read media stories if you can't imagine the possibilities.)