If poor service delivery wasn’t enough of a reason to opt out of free Family Court Welfare Services, Title IV Part D programs and child support services, then how about saving a thousand or more dollars and being secured against identity theft? Child Support customers in at least three states have already experienced serious breaches in their personal information, including social security numbers being compromised and potentially handed over to hackers that might want to steal identities in the last few months alone.

In Colorado, a computer was stolen from a Colorado state contractor which contained over 1.4 million names of people that made child support payments in the state as well as nearly a million more names of newly hired employees anywhere in the state. Additionally, receivers of support had their information compromised as well. (”Privatization, Identity Theft, and Crony Capitalism” http://www.unbossed.com/index.php?itemid=1186)

In Nebraska, “a hacker broke into the child-support computer system run by the state Treasurer’s office and may have obtained names, social security numbers and other information of 300,000 people and 9,000 employers.” (”Hacker Breaks Into Nebraska Child-Support Database” FoxNews.Com, June 29, 2006)

In Vermont, a state computer containing names, social security numbers and bank account information for 70,000 vermont residents was hacked into by a remote user sometime before early December of 2006. (”Vermont Computer Hacked: 70,000 users at risk” Lock Down Your Identity January 30, 2007)

In California, the Department of Child Support Services improperly faxed a list of 1175 individuals, which contained their personal information, in error to an outside financial institution. (Press Release: California DCSS January 30, 2007)

Protecting your identity against theft begins with controlling who has access to your private information. By opting out of the Title IV-D program, Child Support Enforcement, and other family court services that are provided free of charge you are limiting access of who has access to your personal files. As with the majority of “free of charge” welfare programs remember the number one rule: you get what you pay for.

If you believe that your local family court has allowed your personal information to be compromised you can follow these steps:

1. Contact the fraud departments of any one of the three consumer reporting companies to place a fraud alert on your credit report. A fraud alert tells creditors to follow certain procedures before open any new accounts…

2. Close the accounts that you know or believe have been tampered with or opened fraudulently. Use the ID Theft Affidavit (PDF, 56KB) when disputing new unauthorized accounts…

3. File your complaint with the FTC. You may print a copy of your complaint to provide important standardized information for your police report…

4. File a report with your local police or police in the community where the identity theft took place. Give the police a copy of your FTC ID Theft complaint form. Get a copy of the police report (or, at least, the police report number)…

Identity Theft is a very serious issue, control who has your information, and opt out of welfare programs that have bad track records with handling data. A large number of participants of family court welfare services have already had their information stolen, don’t be the next victim.

Lary Holland is a freelance writer and a guest editor, for more information you can view the website at http://www.laryholland.com.