There is a possibility that your child’s social security numbers have been or are getting misused by some crooks to exploit government benefits or can be used to get a credit card open a bank account.You must check credit reports and see if your child’s credentials have been misused, if it is really the case, do not just sit back, take immediate action and complain to the relevant people. Similarly, these days, many schools ask for personal and sometimes really personal information. You have all the right in this world to ask them why they are asking for such things and how will they use, manage and protect these records. If you do not get a satisfactory answer, try not to fill out those details that are not necessary or too personal.

You can take some valuable steps to protect your child’s identity from getting inappropriately used. Keep your children’s record safe and secure, whether they are in physical existence or are in the digital state. Do not let your child’s pictures to be leaked, avoid uploading his or her photos from uploading on the social media as they can easily be stolen from there. Other than that, keep your beloved child’s photos and videos lock and hidden in your smartphone using reliable data security app such as Secure Photo Gallery Pro.

You are strongly advised not to share his/her social security number with just anybody, if someone asks for it, do proper inquiry why that person is asking for that, what is the motive of it and then hand over the number if you are satisfied. A point to be noted, do not dump your kid’s documents carelessly, security experts always advise to first shred those documents and then throw them away. The risk is huge over your son’s or daughter’s identity, but, laws like federal Family Education Rights and Privacy Act(FERPA) are responsible for the protection of students' privacy in school. FERPA gives the parents of school going children to not to provide sensitive information to the school.

You should verify the records of your kid that are kept by a school or any other institution on regular basis. Other than that, you have been given the right by the Protection of Pupil Rights Amendment to ask for a copy of the policy or survey of the school before it is distributed among the innocent students. This will help you to understand the policies of school better and you will be able to make some important decisions. There are records maintained by schools of children that have the information like name, residential address, phone number, email address and photo, you can give a request in writing to the school that do not hand over these records to a third party no matter what.

But, even after taking such precautions, your child’s identity is still compromised, you can lodge a complaint to the US Department of Education and the Family Policy Complaint Office. You are recommended to have a proper inquiry about any case of identity theft, your child has sustained before his/her sixteenth birthday. If there is one, report it and have proper legal actions, otherwise, your child may face consequences when he/she will go for a job, a loan or a living place on rent. Be safe and be sure with your kid’s security.