Can I look up my baby's SSN today without having the card?

November 28, 2015 5:56 AM

My kid has a SSN, but I don't know what it is. How can I look it up on short notice?

I need to apply for a passport for my 5-month old baby for international travel this winter and was hoping to do it today. We got a social security number for her when she was born and we received her social security card, but I can't seem to find the card right now. I know this is bad and I need to have it replaced. But this seems to take 10 days and must be done in person during business hours.

I don't need her card to apply for the passport, but I do need to know the number itself, and being an exhausted parent, I never took the opportunity to write it down.

In short: Is there any way to find out my child's SSN on short notice? Quick Google search is not encouraging and suggests that the Social Security Office will not release it over the phone. It is not printed on her birth certificate.

posted by zadermatermorts to Law & Government (11 answers total)

Are you sure you've never written it down? Have you needed it for anything before now? Do you have a copy of some paperwork you filed that has the number on it? A lot of medical paperwork asks for a social security number. You might have this number written down on something else besides the card that you already have in your house in a file cabinet somewhere.
posted by BlueJae at 6:02 AM on November 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

Have you called and asked if your local office will give you the number if you pay them a visit with appropriate ID?
posted by deadweightloss at 6:05 AM on November 28, 2015

You may have needed to put it on a medical insurance application?
posted by metasarah at 6:08 AM on November 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

Maybe try the birth hospital and/or her ped's office? I feel like this can't be a particularly uncommon situation. (I can only hope I put our baby's card in the safe because otherwise I have no clue.)
posted by teremala at 6:26 AM on November 28, 2015

If either of you works you may have filled out a life insurance beneficiary form that would have the ssn, or medical benefits paperwork, as others mentioned. Ask HR if you can see your paperwork?
posted by banjo_and_the_pork at 6:28 AM on November 28, 2015 [1 favorite]

Does your company manage benefits online? Mine does and I can get the SSN from the section on my covered dependents.
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:38 AM on November 28, 2015 [2 favorites]

Did you open a college fund for her?
posted by lydhre at 7:15 AM on November 28, 2015

My SSN go-to resource is that I had to fill in my daughter's on one of the short term disability insurance forms I filled out to get paid during my maternity leave.
posted by town of cats at 6:00 PM on November 28, 2015

I called the social security office when my son's social security card got lost in the mail (about four years ago, when he was a baby). They just gave me the number over the phone.
posted by linettasky at 9:17 PM on November 28, 2015

Look at your last tax return(s).
posted by JimN2TAW at 8:02 AM on November 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

My friend got her SSN card replaced. They told her it would take 10 days, but it showed up in 2 days. YMMV.
posted by MonsieurBon at 4:13 PM on November 29, 2015