Having a baby by an American man is a real game changer for young Dominican women if they can get the man to sign on to paternity for the child - that is agree to support 'it' until age 18... gives the child access to US citizenship (I think that there are hoops) BUT ALSO allows the mother to collect 1/2 of dad's social security if father dies before child is 18
Thus the OLDER an American man is - the MORE attractive he becomes to young Dominican women! This is actually not a bad old age plan for many Americans - if they can find a young woman who will take them into her family and take care of him... much better than a sad and lonely single life here in the USA!!
I believe that is not the case for collecting 1/2 SSI of the father. Also it depends on how many other minor children he has.
Some things needed
The easiest is the child must be a US citizen, which they would be, if the mother had 'legally' entered into the US prior to birth.
Birth abroad to a US father does not automatically grant citizenship to children.
The father must have been living in the US for 5 years before the child's birth (and 2 of those years have to be beyond the father's 14th birthday) or the child must have been born in the US or territory. In other words a US father who lived abroad prior to his 14th birthday until he conceived does not qualify, nor a US father who did not have 5 full years of residence in the US. So a Dominican with US citizenship who left at or before age 14 and did not move back for 2 years prior to becoming a father can not have a qualifying child.
The biological father and mother must have been legally married at the time of the child's birth. There are exceptions if their were
written documents filed that the biological father agreed to support the child till age 18, and actual paternity can be established. (Maybe by DNA)
Benefits cease at 18 unless they are fully disabled.
And, unless it has changed, all the applications for survivor's benefits for SSI must done in English.
It sure is not a golden ticket, like so many Dominican women think.