Do you check your child’s credit reports?
It’s really important that you check your child’s credit report while he or she is a child because a child whose identity is stolen can have problems finding a job, getting credit, or renting a place to live after they become an adult. The older the records, the more difficult they are to clean up. How can someone get credit in the name of a juvenile? Credit reporting agencies do not have a foolproof way to check age when financial information is posted, so it is difficult for them to know that the victim is a child.
And what if your school has a data breach? Yes, that happens. You can check different types of breaches that have been made public at http://www.privacyrights.org/data-breach
Also think about what information you allow to be public about your children … on Facebook, at schools or school events, through Twitter.
For more information about protecting your child’s identity, consult the Identity Theft Resource Center article on “Identity Theft and Children.” http://www.idtheftcenter.org/artman2/publish/v_fact_sheets/Fact_Sheet_120.shtml The FTC also has a very good article on child identity theft at http://www.consumer.ftc.gov/articles/0040-child-identity-theft
Intentional Privacy 