Do you know why birth certificates are changed when someone adopts...?

Question

from another country and lives in the USA?

Answer 1

For international adoptions, being adopted by US citizens qualifies a child for US citizenship.  Just the final forms need to be filed.  The US birth certificate will be issued in the state where the adoption was finalized, with the adoptive parents.  Having a US issued birth certificate is necessary to complete the citizenship process.

We have our children's Liberian birth certificates.  Did you get your child's original birth certificate from Guatemala?

Answer 2

The parents names, and the child's (if the new parents change it) are changed because legally that child is theirs just as if they had conceived it. The time, date and place of birth are not changed. The original parents on the certificate are removed and the new ones entered, as the original ones are no longer the child's parents and have no rights to them.

Answer 3

The legal system makes it where it shows the new parents' name on it, just as if they'd given birth.  Also, it's done on domestic adoptions too.   This way, some people don't tell their kids they are adopted, and the paperwork won't tell either.

Answer 4

Im pretty sure its so the person has citizenship and itw ould be easier to get citizenship that way. Plus, on the new birth certificate the adoptive parents are put on their and if there place of residence isn't the same country as where teh baby was born that could be a little odd. I think that its mostly for legal reasons. Plus when the child gets older, if they took a foreign birth certificate to like try to get a job, the employer may ask for like documentation that they are supposed to be here and what not. I hope this helps.

Answer 5

My daughters came here with Chinese birth certificates that simply say, "So-and-so was born on or around such and such a date.  Details about her birth parents and place of birth are unknown."   These birth certificates were made by public officials according to info provided by the orphanage staff.  They needed American birth certificates for school entry, sports, etc.   Once the adoption is finalized and their names legally changed at the probate court, an American birth certificate can be issued.

Answer 6

It is because the adopted child takes on a new identity, which wouldn't be the case if the old birth certificate was kept. If you applied for a passport for the child, you would want it in their present name; not their past name.

Answer 7

It is not just when someone adopts from another country, it is any type of adoption.

And it is digusting.

Further, why is it OK for the states to issues fraudulent documents, but ordinary citizens can be punished with fines and prison terms for committing fraud?

Things that make you go hmmm

Answer 8

They also change the birth certificate if the person was born here and was adopted here.  I never understood the practice and think it dates back to adoption being a big bad dark secret.

Basically the government creates a fraud!  An untrue document and certifies it.

As an adoption social worker, the ONLY positive thing I can see from it (and I don't agree with the practice) is that when a kid goes to school they photo copy his birth certificate and it goes in his file.

I'm not saying that adoption is a thing to be ashamed of, but maybe the child doesn't want EVERYONE who looks in his file to know his personal business.  In my cases of special needs and foster care, a lot of people have silly ideas about children in foster care...a person sees that they begin to imagine all kinds of stuff about the child that they wouldn't if they didn't know.

But...I don't like the practice..it is a minor silver lining.