Boston Medical Center – Brighton
Birth Certificates
Your baby’s birth certificate is a legal document that proves the facts of birth and makes a birth a permanent record in Commonwealth of Massachusetts vital records. Birth certificates should be completed before birthing parent and baby are discharged home. The hospital is required to a record birth at Town Hall within ten days.
Necessary Information
Hospitals obtain birth certificate information by means of a worksheet or interview, and it is very important that you answer every question completely. Information needed to record the birth in Massachusetts includes:
- Full legal name of the baby
- Location of the birth
- Social security numbers and home address of the parents
You will need to make the birth registrar aware if you are:
- Married, or previously married within 300 days before delivery
- Married, but your spouse is not the baby’s father
- Divorced, and date of divorce
Your current status is also important to process your baby’s birth certificate. The birth registrar needs to complete the appropriate documents required by the state.
You will also be asked statistical questions about your and the other parent’s race, education, etc. This information helps doctors and public health planners find out facts about health and characteristics of parents and babies. Statistical information is kept strictly confidential and sent directly to the Department of Public Health, separate from the legal record that is sent to the town clerk.
Process
At the hospital, during the birth certificate process, you will have the option of applying for a Social Security card for your child. If you apply, you will receive the social security card in the mail within six weeks.
The birth certificate is completed by the birth registrar, signed by parent(s) and sent to the Town Hall to be recorded. It is the parent’s responsibility to pick up a certified copy after ten days, or whenever it is needed.
There is a fee for the birth certificate.
Paternity
Paternity Acknowledgment Program. In Massachusetts, unmarried parents can legally acknowledge paternity at the hospital delivery. A special form, Acknowledgment of Parentage at Birth, allows the birth registrar to list the father on your baby’s birth certificate at the time the baby is born. The birthing parent must be unmarried, and both parents must sign acknowledgment and provide identification for the birth registrar/notary.
Denial of Paternity. Massachusetts Law requires that a birthing parent who is married at any time within 300 days of birth must have their spouse listed as the father, unless a Denial of Paternity form is completed and signed by spouse and the birthing parent.
For more information about birth registration, including the paperwork for acknowledgment of parentage or denial of paternity, visit the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Registry of Vital Records and Statistics or call 617.740.2600.