SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — Nonprofit Just in Time for Foster Youth says nearly 60% of the current and former foster children they surveyed faced some form of identity theft.
A state assembly bill aims to help and potentially stop cases like Kyra Kurita's.
Kurita entered the foster care system at age 15 after her biological mother abandoned her at a hospital.
"So she decided to just never return to the hospital to pick me up," Kurita said. "I had missed a month of school because the system had no place for me. When they did find a place for me, it wasn't healthy. My foster parents hadn't taken classes. They had no concept of mental health and what it takes to take care of someone who struggles with complex PTSD."
At age 18, Kurita was ready to move out on her own. But when she checked her credit for the first time, she found her biological father had stolen her identity. Her credit report showed a score of 319, with accounts made in her name just months after she was born.
"There was eight credit cards and three loans. Two were business loans, one was a personal loan," Kurita said. "I started looking into it. Next thing you know, it's like, 'Oh, you have a business loan that's been open for 17 years.' I was like, how do you make a one-year-old the CEO of a business?"
It took Kurita more than three years to wipe her record clean.
"It was endless phone calls, endless letters, endless applications," said Kurita. "Appeals if I got denied."
Kurita's brother also faced abuse and identity theft from their biological father. He took his own life four years ago, at just 20 years old.
Now, Kurita is a homeowner with a retirement account for her two-year-old son, Bryson Wolf, motivated by her brother's memory.
"Any day could be anybody else's last day, any loved one," said Kurita. "So now I live every day for the people that are most important to me."
Now, State Assembly Bill 2935 aims to add safeguards to protect foster children's identities. University of San Diego Law Professor Jessica Heldman helped write the bill.
"As soon as a credit reporting agency sees that a youth has a credit report, then a freeze is placed," said Heldman. "A block is put on that. The damage is stopped in its tracks."
The bill would also streamline the process of erasing credit history after identity theft happens, giving more people like Kurita a second chance.
"To know that people have a chance to not struggle in the early stages of adulthood because I feel like those are the hardest ... It makes me emotional," said Kurita.
Legal experts say AB 2935 could become state law by the end of the year.
