What if we don't have our baby's birth certificate yet?

[ambermomma]

We are traveling on the Sept 18 Magic and our son will be somewhere between 14 and 16 weeks old (obviously he's not born yet. ) The hospital told us it could take up to 18 weeks to get his birth certificate. What do we do if we don't have it - does DCL have other documentation they'll accept for identification?

~Stephanie
3rd Disney cruise coming up, first as DVC member! wooHOO

 

[CAMICKEY]

I would call DCL immediately to determine what documentation they will accept in this situation. It might be better to even get a reply in writing once you get an answer so there will be no problems when you try to board. - Mike

 

[mickeyboat]

Also check on the age requirement to sail. I seem to recall that there is a minimum age. Hopefully your little one will not arrive late and mess up your plans.

(Isn't that what little ones do, anyway).

Congratulations and good luck!

Denae

 

[jel0511]

The minimum age that an infant can sail is 12 weeks, so you'll be fine. As for the birth certificate, that could be a problem. You need some sort of official documention of place of birth to show US Citizenship. I doubt you'd be allowed on board without a birth certificate for a newborn. My only advice is to contact the local bureau which records births and actually issues the birth certificates. I know that when both of my children were born, I never received the birth certificate until I had received notification that the certificate had been filed. After that time, I had to fill out a form to request a certified copy. The local bureau (I'm not sure if it's City, county or state where you live, I know it's city of birth in NJ) and see what can be done on their end to quicken up the process. The hospital only reports the information to the offical body, it's up to them to record it, and get you a copy.

 

[CAMICKEY]

If Georgia is anything like California, it could take up to six months (ours actually arrived after 4) to get a duplicate\certified copy of the birth certificate. - Mike

 

[CGC33A]

call your county's Vital Statistics/Records office & ask for the scoop. In FL, you can go to the local office, pay the fee & get the BC right on the spot (after it is recorded, which doesn't take very long at all; SSN take a long time however, maybe that is what you heard from the hospital). If you mail off to the State Vital Stats office (in FL) it is cheaper, but takes longer. Remember, many people need the BC right away to get passports/Visas etc, so your question is not unusual.

 

[tvguy]

Not sure what part of California camickey is in, but I'm in Sacramento County, and birth certificates here are usually issued the same week as the birth.
For additional copies you just go to the County recorders office and get it on the spot.......depending on the line ahead of you.
I waited 20 minutes last time I was there.

 

[CAMICKEY]

tvguy - Maybe you should re-read what I said. I said a certified\duplicate copy - not the original. You must never have had to order one from the official government site. Ours took 4 months when we did this 3 years ago. The average wait times are posted below and these are from their official state government sight. They have improved since we received ours but still take forever (and notice the clause that says"These are our average processing times, which may occasionally increase as our volume of requests increases.)" Removed previous comment about Fullerton and location on a map. - Mike


Form to Use:
Use the VS 111 form (California Birth Certificate Request Form) to submit your request for a birth certificate. Please include all known information.

If you don't have the ability to print the form, call our Customer Service Unit to have a copy mailed to you (916) 445-2684.

Processing Time:
Request for single record with ALL information provided 4 weeks (average)
Other requests; e.g., multiple years to search, multiple records, historical searches, very old records, incomplete information Up to 4 months

These are our average processing times, which may occasionally increase as our volume of requests increases.

 

[Minnie&Mickey]

Originally posted by CAMICKEY
You must never have had to order one from the official government site. Ours took 4 months when we did this 3 years ago.

I just had to do this a few weeks ago for THREE birth certificates!!! My husband and I both only had the birth certificate that the hospital had issued (not a certified copy). I live in Georgia and had to get a certified/duplicate copy of mine from Portland, Maine. I applied for it using the official government website and had it in less than a week. I also had to get a copy of my husband's. He was born in Georgia and his came in a little over a week. My oldest daughter (19 years old) had somehow misplaced hers, and was able to go to the vital records department in the county that she was born (DeKalb County, GA) and got hers on the spot. Hers could not be obtained online.

Ambermomma-I don't know what hospital you are using in the Atlanta area, but looking back at my youngest daughter's birth certificate, it was issued a little over 5 weeks after she was born in DeKalb County. Hopefully you will be able to get yours that quickly.

 

[justhat]

We live in DC and our daughter was born 2/26/04 and her SS card arrived on 3/17/04 and we got her birth certificate on 3/26/04. We could have gotten the BC a week sooner but we were out of town. We went in person to get the BC because if you requested it by mail they said it would take 2-4 weeks and we needed it to get her a passport before our cruise on 6/13/04. I know babies don't need a passport, but I'd prefer to bring that instead of her BC. So call and see if you can get it faster if you go in person.

 

[CAMICKEY]

Original birth certificates should be issued much sooner than 18 weeks as was told to ambermomma by the hospital. It is certainly encouraging that Maine processes originals as well as requests for duplicates as quickly as they do. To get a duplicate here in California it took me 4 months and all of the paperwork was correct. I was told at the time that it could take up to 6 months and was happy I received it in 4 months. This was for a trip to Cabo in 2001 and we were afraid of losing DS6's original - so we requested a duplicate. Since we did not want to take any chances in the future, we applied for a passport that same year and will never worry about it again. I highly recommend a passport over a BC for traveling purposes. This is just my experience, but if you live in California and need a duplicate BC, as the site tells you - Average processing time is 4 weeks average with increases depending on volume. With government cuts here in CA, i expect this time to increase, not get better. -


BTW TvGuy - We are not allowed to get our childs birth certificate from the county's recorders office as we do not qualify (I tried that). You may be able to but we are not allowed to.

Ambermommy - Did you get any clarification from the hospital yet?

Mike

 

[deebs]

my son sailed at 13 weeks. We had to go to the recorders office for his birth certificate. They would not have let us sail without it.

 

[ambermomma]

I haven't been able to get an update yet from the hospital on getting the BC faster. I haven't had a chance to call Disney yet - it's on my list of questions to call about in the next day or so. I am hoping that the documents are filed for the BC, I can hurry someone up to get me a copy. =/ DS should be somewhere between 16-18 weeks at that point, so I know he'll be old enough to cruise....

Arg!
Thanks for all the suggestions!

Stephanie

 

[kristen821]

i would think you should have the bc within a month, because most insurance companies want to see it within the 1st month. the min. age is 12wks. so hopefully the baby doesn't come early! congratulations!

 

[tvguy]

camickey, here in Sacramento, if your child was born in Sacramento County, you can walk into the recorders office, pay the fee and have a certified copy in minutes, depending on the line. I asked one of our board members who just had a baby and she said she had the original 10 days after her son was born.

I'm involved in Little League baseball, and we require certified birth certificates. I sent several folks there to get copies in January and they had no problem.
But it may vary in other states. And I have had some nighmares with birth certificates from foreign countries. Had one from Japan, it sure looked official, but since I don't read Japanese, I had to guess if was official and okay.
I can see where there would be concern for a newborn, but in today's socierty, where you need a certified birth certificate for everything from school, to little league to soccer, why parents don't have a couple of certified copies on hand baffles me, even if you don't plan foreign travel.

 

[Minnie&Mickey]

Originally posted by tvguy
why parents don't have a couple of certified copies on hand baffles me, even if you don't plan foreign travel.

We got two certified copies when each of our daughters were born. Our oldest had to turn in one certified copy for something many years ago, so that left us one. When she was applying at radiology schools last year, for some reason, she had to have a copy of it. After she took it to make the copy, I never saw it again! When I sent her to the vital records office a few weeks ago, I told her to buy two copies...typical teenager, she only had enough cash to buy ONE! So now we are right back to only having one copy of her birth certificate.

On the other hand, we still have both copies of my youngest daughter's.

 

[CGC33A]

Why buy 2? Buy 8 or 10! There is a set fee for the first one, and less for duplicates ordered at the same time. Everyone above has said how often a certified copy is needed, so have lots (keep in different places) so you always have one!