No birth certificate?

[GiggleOfGirls]

Its one thing to not get a SSC. Its quite another to not get a birth certificate for your child. The child can apply for an SSC when they are adults. Its their choice to get it at that point. I would hope that the adult would have all the correct information when making the decision to get it or not get it.

Exactly. It's not terribly difficult to get a SSN for an older child or adult (as long as you have a birth certificate!) and if the family doesn't use insurance and the child doesn't have a job yet then they're really just missing out on getting their child tax credit, which only hurts them :violin:

But to not get a child a birth certificate :shock: That's completely insane in this day and age... I don't think that the two are really comparable at all.

[BravaAmica]

So, how does one get a birth cert and SS# if the parents never bothered to register the birth? Would a family Bible suffice?

[Jana814]

I just don't get their logic, I thought all birth had to be recorded in public records or something, although some could be sealed. The Pearls are worse then I thought.

[Coconut Flan]

Recording the birth is a law in all states that I've researched in the US. Getting a SSN isn't required by law but by circumstances requiring it's use. So they are recommending being a lawbreaker.

[darareaksmey]

So, how does one get a birth cert and SS# if the parents never bothered to register the birth? Would a family Bible suffice?

I don't know about nowadays but when my mom was born in 1924 she didn't automatically get a BC. Her parents got a letter or something from the midwife (she was born at home, not a fundy, just born into a poor rural family) and they had to take it to the Health Department later for the BC. The BC was needed for my mom to enrol in public school in 1930, BTW.

[Wolfie]

I don't know about nowadays but when my mom was born in 1924 she didn't automatically get a BC. Her parents got a letter or something from the midwife (she was born at home, not a fundy, just born into a poor rural family) and they had to take it to the Health Department later for the BC. The BC was needed for my mom to enrol in public school in 1930, BTW.

I think that's similar to how it's done now with home births- some sort of form signed by parents and the midwife, then taken to the state offices. Hospitals would send it in themselves, and issue a hospital certificate too.

Now, if a home birth wasn't registered in a certain amount of time there would be no birth certificate.

[javafriend]

My daughter was born in a hospital in Texas on a Friday afternoon in 1992. It wasn't until several months later that we realized that we had never received a birth certificate for her through the mail. I went to the county office to apply for a copy and and was very surprised to find out that, as far as Texas was concerned, she didn't exist. ( I remember holding up the baby in my arms and stupidly saying to the clerk, "But look, here she is,")

It took a couple of months,a number of official documents and some sworn statements from medical personel to get her birth recognized. Also, her offical certificate of birth is titled, "Late Certificate of Birth" like we didn't notice she had been born for awhile.

[razingruth]

Speaking from personal experience, I didn't have a SSN until I was an adult - even though the government asked every parent to register their children back in the 80's. The only birth certificate I had was a silly, handwritten paper midwive's certificate and all the kids after me had the same. My youngest sister, born just a couple years ago, is the first of us to be born with a real doctor and I'm guessing the first of us to have a SSN from birth. Not having one causes ALL SORTS of headaches the older you get.

[razingruth]

So, how does one get a birth cert and SS# if the parents never bothered to register the birth? Would a family Bible suffice?

At one point in American history, a Bible sufficed. But, it no longer does (from what I've known).

I had to take my little paper certificate to the county registrar and explain the situation. The country registrar contacted the unlicensed midwife who oversaw our births and she had to swear to our births before a paralegal. Then, I had to take that document to the County Health Dept and get it certified. Also had to get an affidavid from witnesses to say that I had grown up at certain addresses during my childhood (because we were homeschooled there was no school record). I eventually got a SSN and a real birth certificate but it was hell.

[Jana814]

Speaking from personal experience, I didn't have a SSN until I was an adult - even though the government asked every parent to register their children back in the 80's. The only birth certificate I had was a silly, handwritten paper midwive's certificate and all the kids after me had the same. My youngest sister, born just a couple years ago, is the first of us to be born with a real doctor and I'm guessing the first of us to have a SSN from birth. Not having one causes ALL SORTS of headaches the older you get.

Thanks for sharing your experience!! That must have been awful.

[pomology]

Speaking from personal experience, I didn't have a SSN until I was an adult - even though the government asked every parent to register their children back in the 80's. The only birth certificate I had was a silly, handwritten paper midwive's certificate and all the kids after me had the same. My youngest sister, born just a couple years ago, is the first of us to be born with a real doctor and I'm guessing the first of us to have a SSN from birth. Not having one causes ALL SORTS of headaches the older you get.

Ruth, if you don't mind me asking, how were you able to get a drivers license without a real birth certificate and Social Security card?

[razingruth]

Ruth, if you don't mind me asking, how were you able to get a drivers license without a real birth certificate and Social Security card?

I didn't have an official license until after I left. We drove. I guess when your family has very little fear or care for the law, you do what you do legal or not. We all drove at 14. Whether it was legal was questionable. Of course, this was pre-9/11.

[paganhomeschooler]

In Ohio, you're also supposed to register for a birth certificate within 10 days as well. I had homebirths with my last 3. We just had to take the form the midwife gave us down to the city health dept. All we had to do was mark a little box that said "we request a SSN" and the card was mailed to us within a couple of weeks to a couple of months, depending on how busy they were. Of course, my kids are heathens so they're going to hell anyway, not like it really matters that they're "in the system". lol