Is this possible after adoption?

Question

this is the story mary and john smith have a baby name her grace down the track mary and john divorce mary has a new love and wants him to adopt daughter grace . biological father john signs all papers in colorado child is about 10 years of age .mary marries tom and takes his name turner so we have mary ,tom and grace turner.how is it possible that grace uses the name smith and turner sometimes on documents she is grace smith and others grace turner . Is it possible she uses both birth certificates a copy of her original and the new one with the name of turner . If the mother just gave the daughter the original birth certificate with her biological fathers name isnt it possible that she does not even know she was adopted by the new dad. the child grace knows her biological father and says she is was not adopted the mother says the same but when searching for the original birth certificate of grace smith there is not one .grace is a adult .can she legally use both birth certificates ?

Answer 1

Names do not have to be changed in adoption.  And yes they can hyphenate it.  When your name is hyphenated you can use either or  or both and it is legal.  My wife hyphenated her na me when we got married and that is what she was told at the licensing office.

Answer 2

She cannot use both birth certificates.  She should only use the one that was issued last.  The other should be destroyed, or otherwise retired out of use.  If she gets caught using the wrong one, there can be criminal charges for faking an identity.  She can however, legally change her name back to her original name if she chooses.  The adoption decree should have a statement in it that declares, "and the child's name will change from Mary E. Smith to Mary E. Turner, and the state of Colorado is hereby instructed to issue a new birth certificate."

Answer 3

Hi Kek,

Yes, you are correct, it IS possible for stepparents to adopt their spouse's child & he/she can be unaware of it.  What happens in U.S. adoptions is a new birth certificate is created that says the stepparent gave birth to the child when they actually did not.  The original birth certificate is then sealed away forever from the adoptee.  

If the child is young enough and the parents are deceitful enough, yes it is possible that the child will grow up not knowing his/her true heritage.  If Grace is 10, she probably knows that the new man is not her actual father.  To do that to any human is to deny them a true, rightful part of their identity.  It is right to love & take care of a child.  It is wrong to take away identity & medical history from anyone.

To answer your other question, no, it is not legal to use both birth certificates.  If Grace is an adult she may legally change her name to any name she chooses as long as fraud is not the intent.  She may also be legally adopted by anyone she wants without anyone else's permission.  However, once an adoption has been finalized, no adopted person may use their original birth certificate again, even if they do possess their original.  Yes, I know how unfair that sounds.  

If you would also like to know how Grace can know for sure that an adoption took place if her parents are being dishonest with her, please edit & I'll add more because there are ways of finding out.  Hope this helps answer what you were wondering.

julie j

reunited adoptee

EDIT: If Grace is an adult, she may legally use whichever name she prefers, the birth name, the adopted name, or even another name she just happens to like.  Her legal name would be the latest adopted name.  If she wants to use something else, she needs to have her name legally changed which is simple and inexpensive.  What is not ok is switching back & forth between various names.

One more thing worth mentioning - Although names are often changed upon adoption, adoptive parents are never required to change any part of the child's original name.  They often assume they have to do so.  Either way, the adoptee may not legally use both names interchangeably.