Your baby's birth certificate is a very important legal document. It is used to verify birth and is required on a number of different occasions. Birth certificates are created for infants delivered in the hospital or brought to the hospital immediately following birth. Before arrival at the hospital to deliver your baby it is helpful to be prepared to name the baby and to know the preferred spelling for the name selected. You may give the child any first, middle or last name desired.
bullet graphicIn 1968, the U.S. Dept. of Health Education & Welfare passed a law that the birth time must be on the birth certificate (but apparently this law isn't always followed). Before 1968, sometimes the state agencies have a record of the birth time, even if it's not on the birth certificate itself, so please inquire about that possibility. Sometimes the county seat of the birthplace may have a record if the state agency doesn't. Usually, the certificate is only available to you, not to someone asking for you, unless that someone is your legal representative.
bullet graphicIndividuals occasionally may need certified copies of birth, death, marriage or divorce documents for such diverse purposes as applying for passports, fulfilling school entrance requirements, filing license applications, or seeking insurance or government benefits. Generally, these records are available only to the individual or to a member of his or her immediate family.
bullet graphicThe birth rate was 13.9 per 1,000 persons in 2002, a decline of 1 percent from the rate of 14.1 per 1,000 in 2001 and down 17 percent from the recent peak in 1990 (16.7 per 1,000), according to a new CDC report, “Births: Preliminary Data for 2002.” The current low birth rate primarily reflects the smaller proportion of women of childbearing age in the U.S. population, as baby boomers age and Americans are living longer.
bullet graphicBirth certificates have been a great help to many genealogy and family history researchers, as well as adoptee searches for birth parents, providing valuable information and clues to an ancestor's or relative's birth. Over the last few years, many people and organizations have been publishing archives of birth records and birth indexes on the Internet. Some with thousands of records, others with millions.
© Copyright 2012, Inc. All rights reserved.