Living
Birth Certificate & Registration
When you have a baby in the hospital, the staff will fill out the necessary paperwork and send it to the New York City Office of Vital Records, so the birth is then registered. If you chose to have your baby at home or in a birthing centre, the midwife will complete the paperwork and send it in to the city. You will then receive a copy of the birth certificate in the mail, usually within four weeks after the baby is born. You will also receive your child’s social security number.
To obtain an extra copy of a birth certificate, you can request it from the Office of Vital Records by fax, telephone, mail, in person, or over the internet. The cost is $15 per certificate, plus a $5.50 mailing and service charge. Regardless of how you request it, you will have to provide the full name on the birth certificate, the baby’s gender, the date, the hospital and the borough of birth, the mother’s maiden name, the father’s full name, if it is known, your relationship to the birth certificate owner, your mailing address, and the reason for the request.
Under the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, a child born here is automatically a citizen. Therefore, if you are living in the US when you have your baby, no matter what your status is, you do not have to get a visa for your child. If you are in another country and have received a visa to come here, your child can enter the US as a derivative under your visa. For more information on this, please see the section on immigration, or check out the Department of State website (www.state.gov).
Passports
Each child, regardless of age, must have a passport in order to travel outside the US. The child must apply in person, with the parents, and there is a special procedure for children under the age of 14. First, the child and parents must have proof of the child’s US citizenship and proof of relationship to the parents (the child’s previous passport is not acceptable as proof of relationship). You must have a certified birth certificate, issued within one year of the child’s birth, with a raised seal and signed by the registrar, as well as the date the certificate was filed with the registrar’s office. If the birth certificate was filed more than a year after the child’s birth you will have to list its supporting documentation, signed by the physician or midwife.
If you do not have a previous passport or a certified birth certificate to prove your citizenship, you will need a ‘Letter of No Record’. This is a document, issued by the state, with the child’s name, date of birth, the years searched in the database for the birth record, and a statement that there is no birth certificate on file, and as many of the following documents as possible: a baptismal certificate, a hospital (unofficial) birth certificate, a census record, early school record, a family bible record, and a doctor’s record of post-natal care.
In regards to proof of relationship, you can provide any of the following documents with the parents’ names: a certified birth certificate, a foreign birth certificate with translation if necessary, a report of birth abroad, a certificate of birth abroad, an adoption decree, or a court order establishing custody or guardianship.
For children under the age of 14, each parent must bring a proof of identification. Both parents must appear together and sign. If only one parent is able to be there, he or she must bring one of the following: the second parent’s notarised statement of consent, a letter proving that the present parent has sole custody, the child’s birth certificate listing only one parent, a court order granting sole custody, an adoptee decree listing only one parent, or the death certificate of the parent. The passport fee is $82. Phew!
International Adoption
Each year more and more US citizens adopt children from other countries, partially due to a lack of children for adoption in the US. If you are a US citizen and would like to adopt a child from another country, you must be aware that the rules of that country will govern the adoption. You can call the US State Department for more information on 888 407 4747. However, the State Department cannot become involved, it can just advise you.
If you are a legal permanent resident of the US adopting a baby from another country, you may be in for an extremely frustrating experience. As mentioned in the immigration section, legal permanent residents and long-term non-immigrants may bring their spouses and children with them when they enter the country. However, the Immigration and Nationality Act does not provide for the situation when the legal permanent resident is already here and tries to bring a newly adopted child over. The INA recognises an adopted child after he/she has lived with the parent for at least two years. But the legal permanent resident cannot leave the US for two years to go live with the child abroad to fill that requirement. Therefore, it is advised that you become a citizen before trying to adopt abroad.
Adoption Within the US
Please note that adoption can be a lengthy and complex process: it may take six months or more from the time you apply until the child is placed in your home. And it may take three to 12 additional months before the adoption is finalised in court. The first step is to choose an adoption agency. You can get a list of New York City agencies by calling the Administration for Children’s Services at 212 676 WISH (9474).
Once you have chosen an agency, you must submit your application, including your background information, the number of people already living in your house, a description of what your family is like, and what kind of child you would like to adopt. The agency will then conduct a criminal background check on anyone over 18 living in the home.
After the application is submitted, the ‘Homestudy’ process will begin. This is a series of meetings and interviews in which the agency checks out the family. Then the parent training sessions begin. These are designed to let parents know what they are letting themselves in for by adopting a child. The agency and prospective parents then begin looking for a child in the Family Adoption Registry, which has a list of children eligible for adoption. After a child is chosen, the family begins visiting with the child either at the agency, the family’s home, or the place where the child is currently living. If all goes well with these visits the child is then placed with the family, to be supervised by the agency for three months.
Finally, after this process is complete, the adoption can be finalised in court. The family should have an attorney, who will file the petition with the court. Once the parents formally agree to fill their legal obligation for the child’s care, they have legally become the child’s parents.
To obtain an extra copy of a birth certificate, you can request it from the Office of Vital Records by fax, telephone, mail, in person, or over the internet. The cost is $15 per certificate, plus a $5.50 mailing and service charge. Regardless of how you request it, you will have to provide the full name on the birth certificate, the baby’s gender, the date, the hospital and the borough of birth, the mother’s maiden name, the father’s full name, if it is known, your relationship to the birth certificate owner, your mailing address, and the reason for the request.
Under the 14th Amendment of the US Constitution, a child born here is automatically a citizen. Therefore, if you are living in the US when you have your baby, no matter what your status is, you do not have to get a visa for your child. If you are in another country and have received a visa to come here, your child can enter the US as a derivative under your visa. For more information on this, please see the section on immigration, or check out the Department of State website (www.state.gov).
Passports
Each child, regardless of age, must have a passport in order to travel outside the US. The child must apply in person, with the parents, and there is a special procedure for children under the age of 14. First, the child and parents must have proof of the child’s US citizenship and proof of relationship to the parents (the child’s previous passport is not acceptable as proof of relationship). You must have a certified birth certificate, issued within one year of the child’s birth, with a raised seal and signed by the registrar, as well as the date the certificate was filed with the registrar’s office. If the birth certificate was filed more than a year after the child’s birth you will have to list its supporting documentation, signed by the physician or midwife.
If you do not have a previous passport or a certified birth certificate to prove your citizenship, you will need a ‘Letter of No Record’. This is a document, issued by the state, with the child’s name, date of birth, the years searched in the database for the birth record, and a statement that there is no birth certificate on file, and as many of the following documents as possible: a baptismal certificate, a hospital (unofficial) birth certificate, a census record, early school record, a family bible record, and a doctor’s record of post-natal care.
In regards to proof of relationship, you can provide any of the following documents with the parents’ names: a certified birth certificate, a foreign birth certificate with translation if necessary, a report of birth abroad, a certificate of birth abroad, an adoption decree, or a court order establishing custody or guardianship.
For children under the age of 14, each parent must bring a proof of identification. Both parents must appear together and sign. If only one parent is able to be there, he or she must bring one of the following: the second parent’s notarised statement of consent, a letter proving that the present parent has sole custody, the child’s birth certificate listing only one parent, a court order granting sole custody, an adoptee decree listing only one parent, or the death certificate of the parent. The passport fee is $82. Phew!
International Adoption
Each year more and more US citizens adopt children from other countries, partially due to a lack of children for adoption in the US. If you are a US citizen and would like to adopt a child from another country, you must be aware that the rules of that country will govern the adoption. You can call the US State Department for more information on 888 407 4747. However, the State Department cannot become involved, it can just advise you.
If you are a legal permanent resident of the US adopting a baby from another country, you may be in for an extremely frustrating experience. As mentioned in the immigration section, legal permanent residents and long-term non-immigrants may bring their spouses and children with them when they enter the country. However, the Immigration and Nationality Act does not provide for the situation when the legal permanent resident is already here and tries to bring a newly adopted child over. The INA recognises an adopted child after he/she has lived with the parent for at least two years. But the legal permanent resident cannot leave the US for two years to go live with the child abroad to fill that requirement. Therefore, it is advised that you become a citizen before trying to adopt abroad.
Adoption Within the US
Please note that adoption can be a lengthy and complex process: it may take six months or more from the time you apply until the child is placed in your home. And it may take three to 12 additional months before the adoption is finalised in court. The first step is to choose an adoption agency. You can get a list of New York City agencies by calling the Administration for Children’s Services at 212 676 WISH (9474).
Once you have chosen an agency, you must submit your application, including your background information, the number of people already living in your house, a description of what your family is like, and what kind of child you would like to adopt. The agency will then conduct a criminal background check on anyone over 18 living in the home.
After the application is submitted, the ‘Homestudy’ process will begin. This is a series of meetings and interviews in which the agency checks out the family. Then the parent training sessions begin. These are designed to let parents know what they are letting themselves in for by adopting a child. The agency and prospective parents then begin looking for a child in the Family Adoption Registry, which has a list of children eligible for adoption. After a child is chosen, the family begins visiting with the child either at the agency, the family’s home, or the place where the child is currently living. If all goes well with these visits the child is then placed with the family, to be supervised by the agency for three months.
Finally, after this process is complete, the adoption can be finalised in court. The family should have an attorney, who will file the petition with the court. Once the parents formally agree to fill their legal obligation for the child’s care, they have legally become the child’s parents.
