# Born without proof **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 9, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411 "2016-03-09T15:41:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Norman\_Mallar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Norman\_Mallar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Norman_Mallar)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/1 "2016-03-09T15:41:59Z")
I believe I my birth was not recorded, I was born in January of 1964, But was adopted by another family. My birth mother’s name was, Duffina. And I did see a birth certificate at the hospital where I was born back in the 1980s. I have tried pain stakingly to find either certificate, with no luck at all. No sites on the web even helps. It seems that all proof of my birth just disappeared. I am having a real hard time trying to acquire a new ID. This is driving me insane. The hospital in which I was born, has changed its name. All birth records are transferred somewhere else after 25 years of birth of a person. I have tried Vital Records in my home state only to come up with nothing. Every effort has led to a dead end for me. Has anyone else had this problem? And what was the solution? I would be grateful to know. ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/2 "2016-03-09T15:44:38Z")
Why would you believe it’s unrecorded if you’ve seen a copy of your birth certificate with your own eyes? ---
**Author:** ![OldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3bc359/32.png) [@OldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OldGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/3 "2016-03-09T16:02:22Z")
Wouldn’t your adoption papers serve for an ID? I’d think they’d be even better as they’d show the name you use, I presume. ---
**Author:** ![slash2k](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/439d5e/32.png) [@slash2k](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slash2k)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/4 "2016-03-09T16:10:00Z")
What state were you born in, what state were you adopted in, and do you have a copy of all of the paperwork surrounding your adoption? ---
**Author:** ![sitchensis](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sitchensis/32/4892_2.png) [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/5 "2016-03-09T17:05:27Z")
How did you get your old ID, and what happened to it? ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/6 "2016-03-09T17:41:57Z")
If you have the adoption certificate from the court, you could try pulling the court record to see if there’s a copy of the birth certificate as part of the supporting materials. ---
**Author:** ![BeeGee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b5a626/32.png) [@BeeGee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BeeGee)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/7 "2016-03-09T17:42:04Z")
While the hospital may have changed names, the county records should still be intact regardless of the hospital name. Do you have a social security number? If you’ve got that, your birth was recorded. ---
**Author:** ![Phu\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/77aa72/32.png) [@Phu\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phu_Cat)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/8 "2016-03-09T17:47:51Z")
Contact Barack oBAMA. Rumor has it he’s up on how to get forged birth certificates. Phu Cat ---
**Author:** ![Potestas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/50afbb/32.png) [@Potestas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Potestas)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/9 "2016-03-09T17:50:56Z")
I would point you in the direction of this thread: [Off the Grid....[reporting a birth] - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=786234) Has a lot of useful information I think in regards to the issue of not having any sort of birth identifying documents and remedies others have used to rectify the situation effectively. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/10 "2016-03-09T17:55:32Z")
> [@Phu\_Cat](#): > > Contact Barack oBAMA. Rumor has it he’s up on how to get forged birth certificates. > > Phu Cat **Moderator Warning** **Phu Cat** , political jabs are against the rules in GQ. This is an official warning. Do not do this again. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/11 "2016-03-09T17:56:49Z")
Are you trying to use your birth mother’s last name, and get an ID with that name? Even if you can get an original birth certificate, her last name is not your legal name, so you won’t be able to get an ID with her name. However, you can go to court and change your name to anything you want without needing any paperwork. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/12 "2016-03-09T18:28:19Z")
Funny. On my commute the other day I was wondering what would happen if someone from the mid-19th Century (or earlier) fell into a time rift caused by some sort of quantum mumbo-jumbo, and found himself or herself in the present day. Works of fiction always point to the technological and societal changes that their hapless time travelers encounter. But I don’t recall any (not that I read or watch a lot of time-travel stuff) that deals with such mundane things as legally establishing an identity. (Note that in _Highlander_ they didn’t establish their identities; they acquired new ones.) ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/13 "2016-03-09T19:28:37Z")
> [@Norman\_Mallar](#): > > Has anyone else had this problem? If your problem is having inconsistencies in your story, then yes, we see a lot of that around here. Solving it…well that’s a whole other problem. ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/14 "2016-03-09T20:11:43Z")
A buddy of mine couldn’t get an ID without a birth certificate, but they wouldn’t give him a birth certificate without ID. This went on for several months, until he finally got a note from his doctor “verifying” he was him, so the DMV could finally issue him his ID. Bureaucrats aren’t logical, nor consistent. You probably just have to buddy up to someone with the authority to bend the rules a little. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/15 "2016-03-09T21:48:26Z")
My 3-year-old’s upcoming preschool has asked for “proof of birth.” They have further informed me that “He’s right here!” is not sufficient. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2016, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/16 "2016-03-09T22:32:50Z")
> [@Omar\_Little](#): > > If your problem is having inconsistencies in your story, then yes, we see a lot of that around here. Solving it…well that’s a whole other problem. To give the OP some benefit of the doubt, if he’s having a lot of trouble verifying what he believes to be true about his birth, the problem might be that what he believes/what he was told about his birth isn’t true. What makes you believe you were born in January of 1964? What makes you believe your birth mother’s name was Duffina? What makes you believe you were adopted? Are you sure you saw a copy of your own birth certificate in 1980, when you were 16? What makes you believe you were born in a particular state, your “home” state? What makes you believe you were born at a particular hospital? ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [March 10, 2016, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/born-without-proof/748411/17 "2016-03-10T00:46:59Z")
> [@Norman\_Mallar](#): > > The hospital in which I was born, has changed its name. All birth records are transferred somewhere else after 25 years of birth of a person. How about tell us the hospital and state you were born in, because the exact location of the records should be traceable from that. What I am thinking is that when a hospital changed operator totally, the old operator took the records… Eg with catholic hospitals, the change of name can then occur again and again… Changers between Mater, Calvary, Sisters of Mercy, and so on… Closes here, changes name , etc, they may still be in catchup, in breach of the law in your state about 25 years.