Friday, January 27, 2012

Birth Certificate?

I know that many adoptees are very upset about altered birth certificates. I certainly understand why. What can adoptive parents do about the "fake" birth certificate besides having the original for their child as well? We adopted internationally and we have our daughter's original birth certificate complete with her first mother's name, address, hospital and city of birth, etc. To get our daughter a social security card and U.S. passport, we had to do a readoption, which includes getting a a birth certificate with us listed as the parents. I would not have gotten a "fake" birth certificate if it was not necessary. We have official adoption papers legally saying we are her parents, we don't need a paper saying we gave birth to her since we didn't. Do people not understand that adoptive parents aren't necessarily trying to hide adoption by having the birth certificate listing them as parents, or are people upset at adoptive parents who won't share the original birth certificat?Birth Certificate?
I think it has to do more with not sharing the original, or lying and not telling a child they are adopted.



What you did is perfectly reasonable and required. I see no reason why anyone would have a problem with it. The original is very special and should be kept secure for the child to have when they are older.
I could see it for reasons of coming to the US. It gives the child natural citizenship, for being the child of two US parents. In some cases, where an original birth certificate does not exist, one must be made, and they often find it's better if the adoptive parents are listed, rather than none at all. Mind you, all of this isn't for the sake of the parents or the child, but for state and federal records. A US birth certificate is the child's key to citizenship, social security, and government programs which could help them in the future, and will not be questioned the way some might question and Alien Identification Number.



If the child already has a US birth certificate, then I think it's silly to issue a new one unless the parents request it (I suppose some might have the preference to raise the child as a natural son or daughter). In that case, I would think the option should be offered, but not be mandatory.Birth Certificate?
I am adopted, and fortunately, my adoptive parents have never hidden that fact from me or anyone else. I'm certainly not upset or angry with them about not being able to get my original birth certificate. What does frustrate me is all the hoops I would have to jump through if any of my children get sick and are in need of something only a biological family member could provide. Most people have both the maternal and paternal sides of their families to rely upon, my children would only have paternal. Furthermore, what if I need something? My other frustration is that everyone should have a right to know where they come from. The non-id info my parents received is very vague. We really only have info on my biological mother's side of the family, and very little info at that. When my parents adopted my brother, they received a lot more non-id info on him. Its possible that my info is limited because we have reason to believe my bio. mother was very young, probably still in high school.Birth Certificate?
I too have always thought that changing the birth certificate was a silly thing to do. I mean, isn't a birth certificate about giving BIRTH. Why not just have certificate's of adoption? I have two younger brothers who are adopted, and I felt cheated (as a biological child) that their names were on my brother's birth certificates. It just felt WRONG. It wasn't that I felt I had any stronger claim on my parents than the boys did, but I felt like the fact that they were adopted was something special, and that changing the birth certificate was, well, like trying to make it something dirty and hidden. I guess I didn't have any logic for it at the time, I was only 9 or 10 when I found out, so it was really more of a gut reaction, but it upset me.
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