How Many Times Do I Have to Prove My Children Are Mine?

Copyright: gstockstudio / 123RF Stock Photo

Last week we got passports for all our children. Should be a straightforward process, even for adopted children. We had to show the adoption decree along with birth certificates and proof of citizenship. It turned out to be a huge mess.

Because we wanted to travel before the standard three-month window, we went to a library where there was a reception agent who checked and accepted all our documents and sealed them up in an envelope, and then John hand-carried them to the passport agency in downtown Washington, DC.

The agent there looked at them and then declared our adoption decrees were unacceptable because although the decrees themselves were officially stamped, the translations were not, so she could not verify them. She said would hold them for 24 hours while we obtained a “certified” translation.

In the end the US Passport Agency represented the FOURTH United States agency to which I have proven my children are, in fact, my children.

First: When we arrived home with Johnny and Dara, the law said they were automatically US citizens when we landed. We did not have to get the certificate of naturalization, but if we didn’t, we would have absolutely no proof of their citizenship, so I sent in all the paperwork and the fee ($420 each). I had to send in the adoption decrees and proof of our citizenship.

Second: I needed social security numbers to file our taxes. I did not yet have the above certificates, so I took a copy of the law and the decrees, and proof of our citizenship to the SSA office. They refused to acknowledge my children’s citizenship. I told them Homeland Security recognized them as citizens. They told me they didn’t care. They were issued SSNs as permanent residents. (I got them changed later.)

Third: I had to get birth certificates in English. The ones I had were in Russian and translated, but were handwritten, and I had only one copy for each. I wanted official, English-language birth certificates. So I gathered all my documentation once again and got five or six copies of each. They are stamped “not proof of citizenship” in huge black letters,” but that’s what I have the other certificates for, right?

So now, to the passports. For a minor you need proof of adoption and proof of citizenship. You would think if the state of Maryland was satisfied enough to issue a piece of paper with a raised seal on it that says I am the mother and John is the father, that should be good enough for the passport agency. But the agent refused to take it. She said she had no proof we had adopted them. I say, if Maryland says we are the parents, I shouldn’t even need the adoption decree. We are the parents. Period.

I find this outrageous and infuriating. This is yet one more example of the bias against adoptive parents. Refusing to accept the birth certificate cost us several phone calls to find an overnight service and another $150, and yet another trip downtown.

Who’s next? What government office will be next in line to demand I prove my children are mine?

I went through enough paper to get them. I’m tired of producing it over and over again because government workers won’t talk to or trust each other.