ID needed for recently adopted baby?

[squidward]

Does anyone know what kind of ID is required for a recently adopted baby? Our son was born on August 1st 2009, and while he has been in our legal custody since then, we still do not have his birth certificate.

 

We are waiting for a court date to "finalize" the adoption, at which point we can get his certificate and then a passport.

 

Our cruise is on May 30th, and I am wondering what to do about his identification if the adoption isn't finalized by then. What will the ship accept as identification?

 

Thanks,

 

Squidward

[newbiecruiser09]

Are you sure you can take him out of the country if the adoption is not finalized? For boarding you either need a passport or an original birth certificate and gov't issued ID(I think with kids only the BC is needed) Don't think you can go w/o the BC.

[imsulin]

You absolutely MUST have an original or certified birth certificate with the same last name as yours OR birth certificate with different last name AND official (I'd bring original) court adoption papers. There's no way you can bring him onboard without official documentation. Another poster asked if you could even leave the country with him without official adoption documents. I'd ask the same thing. You say you are waiting for a court date? Can your attorney speed up the process knowing you are planning a cruise in 2 1/2 months? Good luck to you!

[SuperCoolOne]

You would need a court order giving you permission to take the baby out of the country as well as the original birth certificate.

 

We waited until our children's adoptions were final before even planning an out of country trip.

[MMsteffey]

This is a unique and complicated legal question involving state and federal adoption and immigration law. State adoption and custody law varies from state to state, so what is true for one poster may not be accurate for you. There are issues with leaving the US and returning to the US. Please consult with your adoption attorney about it, and be sure they are not guessing. Even if you finalize prior to sailing, processing the new BC may take some time. We were in a similar situation, before 9/11 travel changes. We were able to travel prior to finalization but not without doing our homework on documentation. I'm not sure we would be able to travel internationally under the same circumstances today. PS Congratulations on your new family member.

[squidward]

Thank you for all your thoughtful responses:). I am working with a great adoption attorney here in NYC, and she is trying to get us a court date asap.

[SuperCoolOne]

Keep in mind that even after your adoption is finalized in court, it can take awhile to get the new birth certificate. For our girls (adopted on the same day), the wait was 6 months. 2 years ago for our son, it only took a month. (We are in NY also, but not NYC)

 

You can not get a passport with the birth certificate. It took us about a month to get the passports back so not too bad.

[squidward]

Great news: Just got a court date of April 14 to finalize the adoption:D. That's 6 weeks before the cruise. Think we can get his birth certificate in time?

[newbiecruiser09]

Great news: Just got a court date of April 14 to finalize the adoption:D. That's 6 weeks before the cruise. Think we can get his birth certificate in time?

 

 

Congratulations!!!! I'd see if you can expedite the BC so you are sure to have it. I would also take all the adoption papers when you cruise just in case.

[StaceyCT]

Great news: Just got a court date of April 14 to finalize the adoption:D. That's 6 weeks before the cruise. Think we can get his birth certificate in time?

 

 

Congratulations!!!

April 14 is my son's birthday, so I think they picked an especially lucky day!

Love your screen name, btw :). Ds would watch SpongeBob 24/7, given the chance.

[kimba9615]

We are in California but when we adopted our daughter 4 years ago it took 7 months from finalization to get her amended birth certificate.

[kitty9]

My TA was a foster parent to a child they were in the process of adopting. They were taking a cruise, didn't have a birth certificate, and were not able to cruise with the child because the courts would not allow it. Once the adoption was finalized, it took 26 weeks to get the amended birth certificate, and they could not cruise until then.

[MariaNC]

We actually ran into a similar situation with my DD who we were in the process of adopting. We had legal and physical custody of her from the day she was born but due to an unexpected delay with the lawyer, the adoption process was not going to be finalized in time (or so we thought). We actually were able to apply for a passport with her original birth certificate and the custody/guardianship papers and some other documentation. It helped that on the original birth certificate the Birth Mother listed our daughter by the name we had chosen including our last name. It is possible but I would definately do your homework on this one. If I was not able to get a passport we would not have taken her out of the country-we were told that leaving would not be a problem but getting her back into the country throough immigration would be difficult. Good luck.