Is it Legal to..??

Question

I am pretty much certain of the answer , but is it Legal in adoption under some circumstances to issue the adoptee a new birth certificate with a new date/place of birth with the new parents name on it as the only certificate?? And if so What happens to the real birth certificate??

Answer 1

Well yes, it appears that it is legal.  Is it ethical?  Is it fair to adoptees?  Not in my book of civil rights. I think that real birth certificates are embargoed to spare the insecure feelings of adoptive parents. And the adoptive parents hide behind the "rights of privacy" of the surrendering parents (aka "birth" parents).

Added - The responses are really depressing, factual, but depressing.  Words like "sealed", "locked away",are so final.  Like death.  My heart hurts.

Answer 2

Oh, I beg to differ.  I am just a little older and believe me.  There are two birth certificates.  I recently received my ORIGINAL birth certificate that lists me as Baby M and my biological mother as the actual person who gave birth to me.  All adoptees born in the United States have two birth certificates.  The one issued after their birth and the one that is amended birth certificate issued after the adoption is finalized.  Even if an adoptive parent is given a "temporary birth certificate" does not negate the fact that an ORIGINAL birth certificate exists for most every adoptee (black market babies are the exception to this).

For most adoptees, the OBC'S are sealed unless opened by court order or a match through a state registry (as was my case).  My adoptive parents never saw my OBC until recently but just because adoptive parents are not given one doesn't mean it does not exist.

Answer 3

In a legal adoption the adoptive parents names ARE on the birth certificate--not the biological parents.  I have a 28 year old adopted daughter and in Texas, it is issued after the 6 month waiting period.  We got a temporary birth certificate when she was placed with us when she was 13 days old.  Those are the only ones--the originals-- that were issued.

Answer 4

I know that you can legally change there name & any changes would remane in the hands of the adoption agency. I'm in the process of adoption my 5 neices & nephews. Not sure on the whole birth certificate details though, but the social worker would be able to advise specific details as they are all different depending on who you're going through. I'm dealing with children & family services and they have an adoption supervisor/home study person who's very informative of this type of info. GOOD LUCK!

Answer 5

that would be illegal unless a judge approves it.

Answer 6

huh...

Answer 7

I don't think so....but I am not sure!

Answer 8

Yes, it is legal during the course of a legal adoption.  The first b.c. with the birthparents names on it is sealed in the county seat or capitol of that state.  Then the adoptive parents names are entered as the parents for the child,  to have a normal looking b.c. for school and all other intents and purposes.  This is done to protect the privacy of the birthparents and child, and for continuity.

Answer 9

Many states do this even now.  It is actually legal.  It is usually to thwart both adoptee and natural family from finding each other.  The OBC is sealed at that point unless it is an adoptee access only state.

Answer 10

My son's adoption was finalized in 2004 in NJ.  Six months after the finalization, we received a "new" (also known as amended) birth certificate, stating his true date of birth, the county he was born in, and our names as his parents.  The original birth certificate issued to the child at birth is then "sealed" as I understand things.

Answer 11

Wow, I can't believe how many people are unaware of how adopted persons' identities are regularly handled in the U.S!

In all states, it is the usual practice that amended birth certificates are issued that show the adoptive parents names as parents and show the name the adoptive parents gave the child instead of the birth name.  As far as place of birth, date and so forth, most of the time those items will stay factual, but these items have been known to be altered.  

In some states, the adoptive parents or the adoptee (if old enough to say) can request that the original, factual birth certificate remain intact.  Otherwise, the amended certificate is issued.

The original, truthful birth certificate is sealed, but not destroyed.  It is available to the adopted person as an adult under various circumstances throughout the states.  Some states actually treat adopted citizens equally under the law to their non-adopted counterparts, and will issue a copy of the original, factual birth certificate to the adopted person upon request.  Most states have various rules, usually including the need to obtain a court order, for an adopted citizen to be "allowed" to access the factual record of his or her own birth.

EDIT:

Whether you like the answer or not, it correctly states what occurs with both amended and original birth certificates in U.S. adoptions.  I know that not everyone realizes that there is an original, factual, birth certificate that gets sealed when the adoption occurs, since that's not what is normally issued to the adoptive parents.   But, there are a lot of places where you can verify this, including different states' legal codes for adoption.

EDIT 2:

Original birth records are NOT sealed to "protect birthparent privacy" or the child.  If you look back through the history of sealed records in various states, you will find that these issued had NOTHING to do with the advent of sealed records in adoption.  Sealed records were not always a part of adoption, and never even occured in some states (Alaska and Kansas.)  Sealed records only protect agencies and were great for hiding the fact that a child was a b*****d, since birth certificates of b******s were routinely stamped with terms like "Illegitimate" on them at one time.  An amended birth certificate hid this nasty little secret.  Any concern that exists today about having a bc that looks "normal" for school purposes furthers this type of stigma that b******s have to overcome.

Sealed records and how they are handled under law are absolutely NOT CAPABLE of "protecting birthparent privacy" anyway.  Reading through adoption law throughout the states will reveal that.

Answer 12

I wouldn't say for certain that it's illegal, it's just that you may have some problems, later in life!

Answer 13

Yes it is. My adopted parents did this to mine when i was first adopted!!  hope i helped!!

Answer 14

Not only is it legal all 50 states do it at finalization of the adoption. The original is either sealed in court records or filed in sealed hospital records. Should the adoptee desire to search for biological family at 18 (legal minimum age in most states to do so) it may require an attorney and court appeal to have the information released, but not always.

Answer 15

What the bleep?!?

Answer 16

we have adopted and the original birth certificates were changed only the child's name and birth parents names were changed the dates and locations stayed the same and new certificates were issued to us however I have the original birth certificates to give to our children when they are older if they are interested in having them oh and yes their social security numbers were also changed and new cards issued

Answer 17

I do not think it is legal to register a new birth certificate with a new date/place of birth.

My children's amended birth certificates have the same date and place of birth as their original, the only difference is that our names are on it as mother and father instead of their birth mother's name.

So, it looks like I had kids, in 2 different states I've never even been in before.

The original, from what I understand, and I may not be correct, gets sealed and filed away.

Answer 18

yes, it IS legal to do that, it happens in all 50 states. Some states don't do new date / place of birth, but it was standard procedure for many to in the past, a couple still give the aparents the ability too.

here is a link to some standard alters states were "known" for doing on original birth certificates upon the finalization of adoption. It hasn't been updated in a couple years though, but none the less, gives a peek to some...

http://members.tripod.com/~gene_pool/3ad...

The REAL birth certificate gets sealed by the state of the adoption, and can only be unsealed by petition of the courtsf ( which rarely happens,) or activism and a reform of the laws which has happened in 4 states.