After outcry, acting Social Security director reverses course on Maine newborn policy
Social Security Administration acting Commissioner Lee Dudek issued a statement Friday apologizing for his "mistakes."
Social Security Administration acting Commissioner Lee Dudek announced Friday that he was reversing his decision to suspend a program in Maine that allows parents to apply for a Social Security number for newborn infants by simply filling out a form at the hospital.
Available in all 50 states, the enumeration at birth process spared parents from the trouble of having to apply for a Social Security card in person at an office.
“I recently directed Social Security employees to end two contracts which affected the good people of the state of Maine. The two contracts are Enumeration at Birth (EAB), which helps new parents quickly request a Social Security number and card for their newborn before leaving the hospital, and Electronic Death Registry (EDR) which shares recorded deaths with Social Security,” Dudek said in a statement posted to the Social Security website. “In retrospect, I realize that ending these contracts created an undue burden on the people of Maine, which was not the intent. For that, I apologize and have directed that both contracts be immediately reinstated. EAB and EDR continue in place for every state and were not affected. As a leader, I will admit my mistakes and make them right.”
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Left unexplained was why the change to the decades-old enumeration at birth practice was undertaken in the first place.
On Wednesday, Maine’s Department of Health and Human Services sent out an email notifying hospitals and birth centers that “effective immediately, the option for parents to participate in the enumeration at birth process will be suspended,” the Portland Press Herald reported.
The Maine DHHS said that it was following guidance given to it by the Social Security Administration.
On its website, the Social Security Administration describes the enumeration at birth process as one of convenience.
“The Enumeration at Birth (EAB) program eliminates the need for a parent to gather the necessary documents, complete an Application for a Social Security Card (SS-5), and take or mail original documents to a local Social Security office for processing,” SSA states.
The suspension of the program in Maine drew swift rebukes from healthcare providers in the state.
“It makes absolutely no sense to me at all to do this,” Dr. Joe Anderson, advocacy chair of the Maine chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told the Press Herald. “I see no logical explanation for forcing parents and newborns — with 11,000 babies born in Maine every year — to sit in a crowded waiting room, when we have done this easily, securely and efficiently for decades.”
The parents of newborns need to obtain a child’s Social Security number in order to apply for a child tax credit on income tax forms, and the enumeration at birth program helped speed along that process.
On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order that seeks to curtail birthright citizenship. The order states that “the Fourteenth Amendment has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.”
The order also directs the secretary of state, the attorney general, the homeland security secretary and the commissioner of Social Security to “take all appropriate measures to ensure that the regulations and policies of their respective departments and agencies are consistent with this order.”
But Trump’s order was paused last month by a federal judge in New Hampshire after being challenged in court by civil rights advocates in Maine and other states.