Is it possible for someone who is adopted to not know their exact birthday?

Question

Is it possible for someone who is adopted to not know their exact birthday?

Answer 1

Yes, of course, hospitals keep very good records of these things.

Answer 2

Yes, it's not uncommon in international adoptions as some foreign countries do not keep very good records and may not have hospital births, or if the child was a foundling.

Answer 3

yes all the time.  Childern are adopted at birth everyday.  Also children adopted from foster care have an orginal birth certificate before it is changed and they only change your parents

The only time it may not be known is when  kids are found

Answer 4

Yes, my sister in law did not know her birthday until she recently reunited with my mother in law.

Her paper work said her father was Irish, She is dark and just found out it's because he was Spanish.

Answer 5

It is not uncommon in international adoption.  Almost all children adopted from China are abandoned (because there's no legal way to place a child for adoption), so their birthdate is estimated.  Often it's very close because the umbilical cord will still be attached and they can tell from the condition of the umbilical cord.  It's even possible in international adoption that the child's year of birth is estimated.  Sometimes, for instance in Africa, both parents die and the child isn't involved in social services until older and it is a total guess.  Sometimes, because of malnutrition, the child looks much younger than he or she really is, so their age is way off.  You have parents get their "8-year old" home and he soon starts growing facial hair!  Seriously, it happens.  Sometimes, a child's age is intentionally made younger in order to make it more likely that he or she will be adopted.  I know a family who adopted a child from Ethiopia and were told the child was 3.  Now that they have him they are estimating that he's probably 5 or 6.  A child already loses so much in adoption, I can't even imagine not knowing how old you are.

Answer 6

We do NOT know my daughters exact date of birth. Actually, there was no record of her birth, or life until after she was 4 years old...and actually 4 years old was just a guess.

Her mother told the department of Child Protection Services that our daughter was born a certain year on a snowy night in a cabin and where the cabin was.... CPS looked up the weather records for the stated year and picked her date of birth based on snowfall reports.

Then they made her birth certificate.

She is "10" right now--but, according to a few clues she may actually be a year or more older. We had considered doing something to check but a bone scan was not conclusive and we found out she has brain damage from fetal alcohol exposure--so it seemed less importatn given that emotionally she is younger then her age. If she were also ready and more emotionally mature I would have far more testing done and do what I could to make sure we came as close as possible to correct.

So, I guess the wrong birthday can happen for a lot of different reasons.

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Answer 7

It can happen I know a lady who adopted from Russia they were told the child was one age but when the child was examined by a pediatrician they said the child was actual older then they were told so they just had to pick a date. This can also sometimes be common in china (or anywhere)  where babies are abandoned some babies are lucky if their birthparents writes their DOB on a piece a paper and attaches it to the blanket  but that is not always the case.

Answer 8

yes yes i am adoptad they say my birthday is nov 9 but they could be off but not usualy by 2 or 3 days

Answer 9

Yes, it is not only possible, but it happens all the time in international adoptions.    My oldest daughter was found on a streetcorner and brought to the orphanage, where she was given that particular day as her second birthday.  In reality, she may be as much as six months younger.    My second daughter was supposedly found when she was about two months old, but it can be hard to tell with a baby of that age.  She certainly could have been a couple of weeks older or younger.  The birth date of my youngest child is probably the closest to being accurate.....she was found at the hospital gate with her umbilical cord still attached.

I'm sure that exact birth dates are more readily available in domestic adoptions, but not in 100% of cases.  Some babies are abandoned in this country, too.

Answer 10

I was told it was sept 15..them later come to find it was sept 19. I felt very. These kind of things happen ..its really sad

Answer 11

I also adopted both of my daughters in China. Both of them have "estimated" birthdates.

This is common for children adopted in China.

Answer 12

yes..i always thought i knew the month day and year..turns out they didnt know my year...so i could be a year younger or the age i have always claimed i found that out about five years ago..then last year..i found out after i found my older sister..they had no idea when any of us were born so they guessed at the days..isnt that nice..lol we were all born at home and had no birth certificates until they actually took us from our mother and put us in foster care...

Answer 13

Yes, if a baby is found abandanded they wouldn't know the exact birthdate. Dr's will give a pretty good estimate but it's likely they could be off a couples days or so.

Answer 14

birth certificate, hospital records

Answer 15

Absolutely, it's actually quite common for adoptees to discover they weren't in fact born on the date they were told.

I know one adoptee who's adoptive mother was so distraught when she lost her natural born child that she then adopted him and gave him her dead baby's name and date of birth!  Poor guy, that really messed with his head.

Answer 16

Yes.  Courts in some states (or individual judges) deliberately falsified birth dates on children's reissued birth certificates. Sometimes it is done by the attorney or the adoption agency.  I believe it is much harder to do today in all but the states that allow this falsification.  Even the year can be fudged as I know one mom who had the adoption revoked discovered (it is a way to hide children).  This is in the US, not even another country.

Answer 17

It is very possible.  I know my exact birthday but I had a friend who was adopted from Korea and hers was an educated guess.  Being born and adopted in the US hospitals keep good records and it would be really rare not to have an exact birthday.  Being born overseas, I know a lot of adoptions come out of China, it can be hit or miss depending on the country.

Answer 18

My daughter was adopted from China and since she was abandoned with no note stating her actual date of birth, the orphanage 'gave' her an estimated birthday. There is no way to know for certain if it is her true birthday or not.

Answer 19

It was quite common in the 40's and 50's, and even into the 60's for adoption agencies to change the date, and even the month of an adoptee's birthday, to prevent birthfamilies from finding the child.

Today, international adoptees often do not have an accurate birthdate, because of the circumstances of their surrender/ abandonment.