Applying for a Social Security Number

When you fill out the DS-260, the visa application asks if you would like a social security number automatically be issued to your child.  Of course I checked yes!  Because "automatically" is how my bio children got theirs.  I don't remember filling any forms out for either child, but I'm sure some helpful nurse presented me with the proper paperwork while I was in my post-partum haze and mailed it in for me, and I had the cards in hand long before I would have otherwise gotten around to thinking about what one must do to get a social security number for a newborn.  Because really, at that time in my life, getting a social security number was really, really low on the list of things I was worrying about.

After we adopted Kiera and Matteo, getting a social security number remained very low on my list too.  More pressing were doctors appointments, attachment and bonding and trying to get sleep.  Besides, I really thought their cards would be arriving in the mail any day.  And so I waited.

I was fine with waiting, because again, I have a lot going on right now.  The problem with waiting arose when our health insurance provider told me that per federal law, they can't add Kiera and Matteo to our health care plan without social security numbers.  They are not arguing that our adopted children don't qualify for health insurance; they agree that they will be covered retroactively to the date their adoptions were finalized.  Until then, BlueCross BlueShield acts like Kiera and Matteo don't exist when medical providers try to verify their insurance coverage, so the providers bill us for the full cost of the service.  Thousands of dollars worth of medical bills have arrived and we're expected to pay the bills in full, and then once we have the kids' social security numbers and can add them to our insurance, request each medical provider to resubmit the bills and wait for reimbursement. That's a lot of work on my part, not to mention, after completing an adoption, we hardly have thousands of dollars (let alone hundreds) lying around to front medical bills.   

My adoptive mom friends on Facebook are calling foul that adopted children can't be added without a social security number.  A couple people had been told the same thing, but were able to add their children by typing in 000-00-0000.  This did not fly with BlueCross BlueShield.  I'm enraged both that my adopted children who are entitled to health insurance can't access it in the same way my biological children could, and that the American government can't figure out how to issue social security cards in a timely manner if they're going to pass a law saying you can't be added to an insurance policy without a social security number.

Until I can sort out what federal law requires or does not require, (I contacted my U.S. senator to see if his staff can track down that answer for me) I needed to do what I thought I was supposed to be able to avoid, and that is, apply for their social security numbers in person.  I checked back in with my Facebook friends one last time to double-check whether anyone's cards had ever shown up.  Unfortunately, the majority said theirs never arrived, but then a tiny majority said theirs did, but it took forever.  Over at the social security administration, the woman I got a hold of on the phone said the cards don't always come, but sometimes they do, but they can take a long time and then blamed the consulate for dilly-dallying with sending them the information they need to issue the cards.  She said Kiera's and Matteo's cards could very well be in process, but for security reasons, she couldn't look that up and I'd have to appear in person at the nearest "card-issuing" office. So that's how I ended up at the Social Security Administration office in Minneapolis for three hours with four children (during nap time no less) and every piece of paperwork associated with Kiera's and Matteo's adoptions.

When our number was finally called, I asked the clerk if he could check on their cards and whether they were on their way.  He snorted at me, which I took as verification that those cards aren't actually issued despite what it says on the DS-260.  I had filled out applications for Kiera and Matteo while we waited and presented those along with their Hague adoption certificates, their Chinese adoption certificates (the red booklet), their Chinese passports and my ID. 

Since the only identification I had for the kids were their Chinese passports, he asked for proof that they're American citizens.  I didn't think I needed proof.  I had given him my passport proving I'm an American citizen and I had proof that they're my children.  And I thought that children adopted from China "automatically" became American citizens once they landed in the U.S.  I'm beginning to think "automatically" is a ruse. 

Eventually the children will have proof they're Americans when their Certificate of Citizenship arrives.  Supposedly that document was in the brown envelope we turned over to Homeland Security in Seattle and why we weren't given that document right away or why it takes weeks, or even months, for them to mail it to you, I don't know.  All I know is that my American children are being issued social security cards as green card holders and when we get their Certificates of Citizenship, we'll have to go back to the Social Security Administration office and have them update their status.  (Although their social security number won't change.) 

At least when those social security cards arrive, they'll be in their American names and not their Chinese, which are no longer their legal names.  A social security card doesn't do you much good if the wrong name is on it.  Ironically, the Chinese adoption certificate is the only document with their American names, (the Hague Adoption Certificate only lists the Chinese name) but that was enough for the clerk to process their applications with their new names.