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If you are currently in foster care, your placement should keep these documents in a safe place for you. You should be able to get to your identification documents whenever you need them if you are age 16 or older.
Carry your Texas ID card or driver license with you, but do not carry your birth certificate or Social Security card with you. Keep your ID securely in your wallet. It should not be carried loosely around in a bag or pocket.
Only take your birth certificate or Social Security card out from the safe place when you need to show them for paperwork at a new job or places where you must show them for official purposes. Be sure to put them back in the safe place once you have finished using them.
Before you turn 14, CPS is required to make sure you have an e-mail address where you can receive encrypted copies of your identification documents and records. Be sure to keep track of this e-mail address and password and check it regularly. Write it down somewhere besides just on your phone.
Having copies of your documents, front and back, is important. While you won’t be able to show copies instead of originals in many situations, having the copies will make it easier to replace them.
When you leave foster care, you need to have a good plan for how you will safely keep your documents. CPS is supposed to help you with this. You should talk to other adults in your life about how you can make sure your documents are not lost or stolen.
If your identification documents are lost or stolen, it can take many months and cost money to replace them. It will also create problems with all those places that require identification documents.
Always remember to ask to take your documents with you when you move away from a placement or other place you are staying. Sometimes the person who takes you to a new placement doesn’t get them. If they are left behind, ask for them to be brought to you.
If your documents are left behind and you ask for them to be brought to you, but you don’t get them back, contact:
- The Texas Foster Care Ombudsman if you are younger than 18
- The DFPS Office of Consumer Affairs if you are 18 or older
For more information see Your Rights in Foster Care.
TAKE ACTION TO GET YOUR IDENTIFICATION DOCUMENTS
If you don’t have all your original documents by your 16th birthday, or they are in the incorrect names, or you are not being allowed to use them, you should take the following steps:
- Let everyone involved in your case know that you want and need them now! Tell your caseworker, CASA, attorney, judge, foster parent, and PAL staff that you don’t have your identification documents and that is a violation of foster youth rights under Texas law! Tell them to contact the Texas Foster Youth Justice Project at (877) 313-3688 or info@texasfosteryouth.org if they need guidance about how to help you get the documents.
- Contact the Texas Foster Care Ombudsman if you are younger than 18 and the DFPS Office of Consumer Affairs if you are 18 or older. See Your Rights in Foster Care for more information.
- While it is your caseworker’s responsibility to give you your identification documents, you can take steps on your own or with the help of others such as your foster parent, CASA, or attorney to get the documents. There are even laws to make it easier for youth and young adults in foster care to get their Texas birth certificate, ID card, and driver license.