How do we insure original birth certificates have "true" info?

Question

I recently read an answer where someone bravely wrote that they lied on the original birth certificate. (I say bravely because I feel it took a lot to admit that especially here in Y!A). That led me to think about the reform that I support for OBC. Should we also be pushing for some type of DNA testing at the time of birth to insure that the information provided on the birth certificate is correct? I'd hate to see an adoptee search for years only to find out that the father he/she found was not really the birth father. Adoptees - what are your thoughts?

Answer 1

Yes I do think we should be pushing for DNA testing especially in contested adoptions.  I do think it should be mandatory for parents to be honest when it comes to birth certificates.   A friend of mine had that issue.  Her mother named the wrong man.  Her mother can't remember for the life of her.  Her mother has also shut up about things concerning him as well.  I know quite a few adoptees who have that issue.

Sarah:  I think we need to hold fathers responsible.  As long as we treat fathers as irresponsible, then the fathers who do stand up like Shawn McDonald, Cody O'Dea and others won't be as punished.  We are parents to all of the children we conceive and adopt.

Answer 2

Birth certificates are an interesting subject. I know of one state that is allowing two mothers to go down on the only birth certificate for a donor conceived child. They are listed as parent 1 and parent 2.

So when you research the history of birth certificates they weren't established to trace our ancestry. However, thats what they have been used for for generations. Ancestry is like the 2nd largest hobby in the world or something like that.

To deliberately keep someone from tracing their ancestry because you don't want to deal with a personal issue, is selfish and should be against the law. One day it will be. It is in many countries.

Answer 3

How do you do DNA testing, if the man has disappeared in the case of an unwed mother? What about multiple partners? What about married couples? Are you going to make the husband submit a DNA sample? Then what happens if he is not the biological father?

What happens if the adoptee searches for years and finds the possible sperm source and he does not want to submit a DNA sample?

Answer 4

It was me, I said it. At the time I thought it was the right thing to do but now realize it was very foolish on my part. Once again I got lucky. I am lucky that I am still alive to correct the wrong that I had done. I don't know if DNA testing would work or if you are ever going to get absolute accuracy on birth certificates. I read another answer recently where an adotees bio siblings had mis information on their birth certificates done by their bio mom whom they lived with. Why? Who knows.

All I can say is if someone is thinking of relinquishing they need to be informed of the importance of accurate information. It can make al the difference in the world to someone else. I was wrong for what I did, medical information never crossed my mind, and I obviously wasn't thinking of a reunion with him down the road.  I just wanted to protect him. It is worth trying to figure out. If you could come up with a way to safeguard against misinformation it would be worth the effort put into it, I just don't know how you would go about it.

Answer 5

i have a funny story about this, not funny "haha" but funny weird and a little sad.

when i got hold of my original with lori and my bio fathers names, she had put a false name for him.

as you read earlier in her answer, it was for protection purposes and the such. but i assumed that was his name, wouldnt you?

so i search the internet and find his name, in the same area they lived so i called. i ask for him and this little old woman very politely and tiredly says "im sorry honey, that is my husband, he died yesterday and the whole family is here for dinner. i am sorry."

holy c**p! i felt like a complete a**. i did not try to look for him again. not until i found her.

i dont know what anyone can do to prevent false info, dna testing is only good if both parents agree or are even around. something needs to be done, but how?

Answer 6

You raise an important question.  DNA testing would certainly clarify things, but would be very expensive.  Who would pay for that?  What if you could not afford to pay for the testing?  When I first spoke with my bdad, I asked him if he thought he was really the father, explaining there was no need for us to go through this if he was the wrong guy.  I offered to submit to DNA testing, but simple photographs easily confirmed the truth for us.

I am surprised to learn that giving false information for an important document is not prosecuted.  Don't all those forms say something to the effect:  "Under penalty of perjury, I the undersigned declare the information provided to be true and correct to the best of my knowledge."  Has anyone EVER been prosecuted for lying on a birth certificate?  

My amended birth certificate is covered in lies;  we here all know and understand about that.  Similarly my bsibling's birth certificate also contains lies as well.  I am numbered on that birth certificate as a "previous birth to mother...now dead."  Should that birth certificate be corrected?  Should bparents be prosecuted for perjury?

Answer 7

my adopted parents do not think the father on my org birth cert. is right b/c at the time when i would have been concvied

he was 3 states away at basic training

but he was young and did not know any better so he signed the papers thats how his name was placed on my org birth cert b/c my birth mom talked him in to it

so i will never know my real father

b/c my mom had no clue

Answer 8

I know you said 'adoptees, what are your thoughts' but I'd like to add my tidbit as a birthmom to this conversation.  Had this proposed idea been in place, and had I known then what I know now about my ex, my baby's father, I would have lied and said I had no idea who the father was.  Heck, I would have said I was a virgin.  Who knows what I would have done.  But if your point is to try to ensure adoptees' rights to their correct information, I don't think you're coming at it from the right angle.  I do respect and understand now the importance of an adoptee knowing his/her history- to an extent.  I also know from a birthmom's perspective that naming the father almost made me have to raise a baby that I did not want/could not handle myself.  My ex barely signed the papers, much less went through any type of DNA testing.  So... I'm not sure where that falls into what you're trying to come up with, but if you have to go get fathers to go through DNA testing to provide as complete as possible of a birth certificate to be able to give a baby up, be prepared for more "unknowns" in the birthfather box.

Answer 9

I have no idea how this situation could be solved in any sort of practical manner.  

When my son was born, it was a serious proceedure to get his father's name on the birth certificate.  We weren't legally married at the time (VERY! long story involving family law intricicies across three different states).  We had to talk to a hospital social worker together.  Then we both had to talk to her seperately.  Then he had to watch a film.  Then he had to sign a waiver to get a DNA test.  Then he had to sign numerous documents not only acknolwedging that he was my son's father, but also acknowledging that he knew what signing each of the acknowldegments meant, that he was aware of all his legal rights, etc!  It was crazy.  I was highly embarassed by it all, since I had married this man (a faith-based wedding) and he was the only guy I'd ever slept with.  The social worker asked me numerous times if I was SURE he was the father, no matter how explicitly I explained that there had never been ANYONE I'd slept with before.  I had to sign a paper listing the names of any other potential fathers, even though it was blank!  

I explain this to hopefully clarify why I think getting "true" information on original birth certificates is essentially hopeless.  I can sort of understand why some women take the easy way out and just say "I don't know" for who the father is.  It really is alot of paperwork when they're "just giving the baby away anyhow".  I can't see alot of men demanding a DNA test, just so they can have to wait for the results and then come back and sign relinquishment papers on another day.  I also can't see the states spending money conducting DNA tests to prove paternity on fathers who will not be the legal fathers for more than a few months (at most) anyway.  

I think the harder you make the process, the more you will end up with "I don't know" answers from mothers.  Then you won't even have any names to start from.  Unless we give our government the right to keep a DNA profile on all of us as part of a public record, there is no way to match a child to a birth father if the mother claims ignorance and the father is not actively searching.  In the end, I think mandatory DNA tests would lead to fewer records for adoptees, not more.

Answer 10

I was adopted when the man married my mother when I was 2 or 3 years old.  Before that, my Birth Certificate for "Father" was blank.

What would the reason be for someone to claim something false on a Birth Cert?  It just creates a whole legal-battle later down the road.

Maybe there could be a separate acknowledgement box on the Birth Cert that states weather a DNA test was confirmed or not.  That way, at first glance, someone would know that it could be false parent claims to lessen the disappointment.

Or, better yet, signature blocks for both parents to sign in the presence of a Notary Public on the Birth Cert.

Answer 11

The first answer to this question is not one you've asked.  In many states, an unwed father's name will NOT be included on the child's birth certificate.  In many states, the only way for an unwed father's name to be included in the record is for him to claim the child through the Putative Father's Registry.  

Further, in many states, If the mother is married at the time the child is born, or if she was married when the child was conceived, the husband (or ex) is listed as the 'legal' father, regardless of biology. This was the case with my birth records (TN). My mother was married at the time I was born. Her husband had abandoned her several years earlier.  But her husband's name is on my OBC (I am told).  My mom named my birth father in my DCFS records, & of course, she told me his name to me when we first met.

Interestingly, he was never contacted by the DFCS when I was removed from my mother's custody. He said he would have taken me in a heartbeat. My maternal grandmother was contacted & her home was considered as a  possible placement for me.  But she had a heart condition.

I believe that women should be encouraged to tell the truth about who the biological father is, & be advised that they are liable under the same penalties of perjury or fraud. If a mom refuses to name the child's father, the adoption should not be finalized until the father has been determined. Unless, of course, a judge determines that the father is a danger to either mother or child.  I don't know the stats, but my guess is that it's very rare for a woman not to know who the father of her child is.

"Putative fathers have had fewer rights with regard to their children than either unwed mothers or married parents."

Seriously, if men did to women what is being done to them...if they were taking our babies away without our consent & signing them over to someone else...there would be such a huge feminist uprising heads would SPIN!!  Women would march on Washington.  

Sarah said "naming the father almost made me have to raise a baby".  How can that be? If a father wants to parent his child, he should be allowed to do so.  The mother let the father raise the child if she is not prepared to do so.

ETA: I don't mean to sound harsh on first moms, but rather, to say that the adoption industry should NOT be allowed to get away with & continue to foster deception in adoption.  It's a scary & confusing time for mom's facing an unplanned pregnancy. I know from personal experience.  A woman should be encouraged and supported to do the right thing and name the father.