By Julia Savacool, Fatherly
Adoptive parents overwhelmed by the amount of paperwork confronting them may not immediately consider the complexities and importance of adoption birth certificates. But like an adult’s passport or driver’s license, the birth certificate is a key entry point to many of a child’s daily experiences, from enrolling in preschool to seeing a doctor or signing up for Little League. Amidst all of the logistical planning adoptive parents must do, learning how to get a new birth certificate should be at the top of their list of priorities. Here’s what you need to know about the birth certificate for your newly adopted child.
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Adopted children will have two birth certificates
One birth certificate will be created at birth, while the adoption birth certificate is filled out when parents finalize the adoption. The vital information will be the same on both (date and time of birth, etc). The original birth certificate will list the birth mother’s name, as well as the name she gave to the child. Adoptive parents can change this name to the one they have picked out on the adoption birth certificate, which will list both partners as the parents.
The new birth certificate will not reveal your child’s adoption
“The only distinguishing factor that might indicate this is not the original birth certificate is the child’s state of birth,” says Chuck Johnson, president of the National Council for Adoption. “If you live in New York and the birth certificate says your child was born in Texas, that might prompt some questions.” Because nothing on the birth certificate indicates the child is adopted, it is up to parents to decide if and when to disclose the information to the child. Subsequently, should the adopted kid need to show their birth certificate to sign up for intramural soccer or join Little League, no one who sees it will know they are adopted either unless they choose to tell. “Some people say it’s a falsehood to not list adoptive parents as ‘legal’ parents rather than biological ones, but I think that’s a choice every family should make privately as far as what they wish to disclose, and when,” he adds.
The birth father’s name may not appear on the original birth certificate
On the adoption birth certificate, “birth fathers are often left off, depending on the circumstance of the birth mother and her relationship with the father,” says Johnson. This can make it difficult to track down any information about the biological father in the future if the adopted child chooses to do so.
Access to the original birth certificate will be limited
“After the adoption is finalized, the original birth certificate is sealed and kept confidential by the state registrar of vital records,” according to the U.S. Department of Child Welfare. “In the past, nearly all States required adopted persons to obtain a court order to gain access to their original birth certificates. In approximately 25 States, the District of Columbia, American Samoa, Guam, and Puerto Rico, a court order is still required.” For the other 25 states, access to the original birth certificate is usually gained through the consent of all three parties (the birth parent, the adoptive parents, and the adopted child).
For international adoption, parents can choose to re-adopt their child once they have returned to the U.S., at which point a court can issue a new state birth certificate. As with domestic adoptions, the state will retain the child’s original foreign birth certificate or documentation under seal.
An open adoption makes birth certificate access easier
“Today, more than 90 percent of domestic adoptions are what we call ‘open,’ meaning there is contact to varying degrees between the birth parents and adoptive parents,” says Johnson. A phenomenon that began in the 1980s, open adoptions are often done through private agencies and allow adoptive parents better access to information related to their new child’s medical history, as well as an original birth certificate. “We have copies of both the original and new birth certificate for our adopted child,” says Johnson, who used an open adoption process and maintained contact with his child’s maternal biological grandparents until their death.
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