How to document parentage? archived

I happen to be home today so I just took a look at our son's (New Jersey) birth certificate, my wife and I are on there. Maybe you need the notorious "Obama long form"?

My husband and I are listed on our son's NJ certificate as well.

Would notarized copies of their (the parents) passports be sufficient?

Census tract should have that information. Would it be considered sufficiently official?

Are you sure that what you have is an "official" New Jersey birth certificate (vs a commemorative hospital certificate)?

I have never heard of a birth certificate that did not show parents' names, although sometimes one parent's section is left blank if it is a single parent situation.

My children's birth certificates (Livingston Township, since they were born at St Barnabas) have both parents' names

I'm listed on my kids' NJ birth certificates as well. And on my own from MA, both my parents are listed. Are you sure you have a legal, valid NJ birth certificate?

not to be intrusive, but was your daughter adopted? birth certificates in NJ for children who come to their families by adoption are, IMO, rude, in that they omit this information. it IS possible to have this changed, however, by submitting proof of US citizenship of both (adoptive) parents (originals) to the NJ state office that handles this.

Their father and I are listed on my kids' birth certificates, both issued in New Jersey. My birth certificate, from Pennsylvania, does not list either parent. I'd be suspicious, but I look like both of them.

If you are the natural parent of your Child, then the NJ Birth Certificate will list your name.
If your Daughter is not adopted, then her Birth Certificate will list at least her Mother's name.

if your child were adopted, the birth certificate lists the adoptive parents names....

My child is my biological child and was born in Overlook Hospital. Her official-with-raised-seal New Jersey birth certificate does not show either parent's name. In searching through my old files I found a note that had been given out at the hospital saying how to get an official birth certificate and specifically saying that an official New Jersey birth certificate does not by default show the parents' names but that if you send a note with your initial request you can have the parents' names added. I suppose that we can do that now but there is not enough time to get it for this purpose.

What they need to do is document that my daughter does not have Brazilian parentage, because if she did then apparently they would want her to have Brazilian citizenship (in addition to, not instead of, U.S.) rather than a visa. All very complicated.

That is odd. Hubby and I were both born at Overlook and both of our birth certificates have our parent's names. The quickest way would to be to go to Summit to get a new copy, they have changed the forms and now they show even more information, including the doctor who delivered. Older birth certificates are no longer valid for certain applications.

Do you then need two sets of documents: Set #1 showing who her parents are and set #2 verifying that neither of her parents are of Brazilian ancestry? If the application requires specific documents that cannot be provided for whatever reason, it is likely that the agency she is dealing with has a list of alternative documents (often in combination) that will be accepted in lieu of the birth certificate. Not sure how you would establish #2 unless the Brazilian government has a database of everyone they currently consider to be Brazilian and even then there could be one or more persons on such a data base with the same name as one of her parents.

My sons were born at Overlook in 1987 and 1990. Birth certificate shows my hypenated name and my husband's(father) name.

Go to NJ Bureau of Vital Statistics online and order the long form.

kathy said:

In searching through my old files I found a note that had been given out at the hospital saying how to get an official birth certificate and specifically saying that an official New Jersey birth certificate does not by default show the parents' names but that if you send a note with your initial request you can have the parents' names added.

This might be what happened. I went through my files and found my really old short form birth certificate. While it does have my parent's names listed, the names are just in a space underneath my name, there is no official space/box/line to put it. But even so it only lists their names. The newer long form lists the parent's place of birth, so that is probably the form you need. If your daughter is anywhere near NJ then picking up a new form in person is her best bet. If not then she should call Sunmit and find out if she can get a copy by mail and what she needs to do.

Ian: If the "official" birth certtificate did not list the parents' names when the child was born, would this information have been reported to the NJ Bureau of Vital Statistics? If not, what additional documentation, if any, would be needed before a birth certificate containing her parents' names could be issued? Assuming that NJ Bureau of Vital Statistics has this information on file, how likely is it that Kathy or her daughter would be able to get the needed certificate within the short time frame she has to get this done?

The new birth certificates are actually a photocopy of the original form submitted by the hospital, printed on official state paper and with the raised seal. So any newly issued copy, no matter of how long ago the form was originally filled out, would now have the full information. You no longer have to request that the parents names be listed, you just have to request a new copy and the new copy will automatically follow the new format.

Then the hospital would have submitted both parents' names, even though they did not appear on the birth certificate issued by the hospital at the time? Would the new certificate also contain the birthplace of each parent or would that information not have been collected by the hospital at that time?

kathy, nothing helpful from here, just big sympathy and deep breathing. Hope DD is able to head out on schedule and enjoy the trip. Then you can have a glass (or two) of wine, right?

joan_crystal said:

Then the hospital would have submitted both parents' names, even though they did not appear on the birth certificate issued by the hospital at the time? Would the new certificate also contain the birthplace of each parent or would that information not have been collected by the hospital at that time?

The hospital doesn't issue birth certificates, they fill out a form and forward that to the town where the birth took place. The form holds a lot of information. In the past they would take certain info, baby's name, place of birth, date of birth, and transcribe that to a new form. The new standard is to have all the info from the submitted form shown on the birth certificate.