Avery Anderson will turn 2 in August. With any luck, she will have a Social Security number by then.
The toddler’s slow crawl through a thicket of red tape began last year when her father, Clay Anderson, went to file the family’s 2008 income taxes. To obtain a $1,000 child tax credit, he needed Avery’s Social Security number. He quickly realized she didn’t have one.
He called the Social Security office, where he was told he could swing by and pick up a copy of Avery’s card. When he arrived at the office, he discovered the card was not issued for his daughter.
“There was another girl born the same day with the same name in Oklahoma,” Anderson said.
He was told to come back with a copy of his daughter’s birth certificate.
Turns out, she didn’t have one of those, either.
Read the full article about Avery Anderson, and her parents’ quest for documents in the March 11, 2010 Chicago Tribune.
