Trump Administration Forces Maine Parents To Visit Social Security Offices To Register Newborns

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Original reporting: Social Security now requires Maine parents to visit an agency office to register newborns (Portland Press Herald)

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Source: HuffPost

Trump Administration Forces Maine Parents To Visit Social Security Offices To Register Newborns

The Social Security Administration canceled contracts that allowed Maine parents to sign up newborns for Social Security numbers at the hospital.

By Arthur Delaney
Mar 6, 2025, 09:23 PM EST
|Updated 9 hours ago

For decades, new parents across the United States have been able to check a box on hospital forms in order to request Social Security numbers for their newborns.

That’s no longer the case in Maine, where parents will have to visit a Social Security field office thanks to a shocking move by President Donald Trump’s administration.

A spokesperson for the Maine Department of Health and Human Services told HuffPost on Thursday that the Social Security Administration said it had canceled two contracts with Maine’s vital statistics program that support Social Security’s electronic “enumeration at birth” program.

“As a result of SSA’s contract termination, effective immediately, Maine hospitals are no longer able to enroll newborns into Social Security at the time of birth so parents will now need to visit their local Social Security office to apply in-person for their child’s Social Security Number,” the Maine DHHS spokesperson said in an email.

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Read more: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/maine-social-security-numbers_n_67ca4f3fe4b0f0ee26f56963