About Birth Certificates
The issuing of birth certificates is common practice now, but it's a fairly recent development. The main purposes of birth certificates are to monitor the birthrates and census and provide proof of identification. With the development of paperless systems, paper birth certificates are on the road to becoming obsolete.
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History of
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Registering official birth certificates with the government started in the 1900s. Before then, the most common records were church baptism records. Baptisms were usually done two to three days after birth, so some births could be estimated from the baptism records. Occasionally, the births would be recorded by the doctors, midwives or family members who assisted with the birth. Official registration with the government started in 1853 in the United Kingdom, and the trend eventually floated over to the United States. The United States Census Bureau used to be in charge of birth registration, but in 1946, the responsibility fell to U.S. Public Health Services.
Function
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The primary function of birth certificates is for the Census Bureau and Bureau of Vital Statistics to monitor and record the birthrates and population census. In addition, the birth certificate is a primary form of proof of identification. A certified copy of a birth certificate is required to obtain certain government privileges such as driver's licenses and passports.
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Type
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There are two common forms of certified copies of birth certificates. The most common is the long form, a direct photocopy of the original birth record filed with the government with a certification seal from the county clerk's office. These are the forms usually required to be presented to obtain a driver's license, passport or a new Social Security card. Long-form copies can be obtained from the county clerk where they were originally filed or from the Bureau of Vital Statistics.
Another form is the short form, which is really just a document that proves a certified birth record does exist on file. They are usually titled, "Certification of Birth" or "Certificate of Birth Registration." The short form contains a minimal amount of information, usually just the name, sex, date of birth and place of birth.
Some hospitals in the United States give out souvenir birth certificates to parents. These certificates have all the information of a normal birth certificate, and some display the footprints of the newborn. Despite their official appearance, these birth certificates are not official documents and cannot be used as proof of identification
Features
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All birth certificates contain the person's name, date of birth, place of birth and sex. The original birth records filed with the government also include race, the names of the doctors and/or midwives who assisted with the birth, and the parents' names and addresses.
Evolution
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The paper forms of original birth records are giving way to paperless registration systems, which allow the hospitals and midwives to electronically file the birth records immediately. All records are stored in a computer database. With this system, parents can obtain a certified copy of their child's birth certificate within a couple of days instead of six to eight weeks.
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