I’m 21 yrs old, single and 9 months pregnant. My baby’s father receives Social Security Disability Insurance and SSI.

Q. I’m 21 yrs old, single and 9 months pregnant. My baby’s father receives Social Security Disability Insurance and SSI. He says our daughter could receive some sort of payment until she is 18 yrs of age. Is this true and if so how do I go about doing this for her?

A. Your daughter may become entitled to a Social Security dependent child benefit but that is not certain. Dependent benefits are not always payable if the wage earner’s Disability Insurance benefit is exceptionally low.

After the birth of your daughter, contact the Social Security Administration and apply for a dependent benefit. You will need her birth certificate and her father’s name and Social Security account number and he will have to file an affidavit that he is the father. Even if no dependent benefit is payable at this time, you will want to have your daughter’s relationship to her father a matter of record in the event of her father’s premature death.