Documenting a Friend

[tenshikurai9]

A friend of mine knows who her mother was, but not her father or birth city.  Anyone know how she could find her missing US birth certificate with that much information? 

Comments

[l33tminion]

For starters, try Pipl.

[moechus.livejournal.com]

Does she at least know what state she was born in? In Massachusetts, vital statistics are also kept in a centralized registry (near UMass Boston). Depending on the state and when she was born, this may not help as the older records may still exist only at the local level.

Does she have a passport? It should list the place of her birth. She might also try combing government records (e.g., social security administration) for their records under the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts.

Can't think of anything else off the top of my head.

[tenshikurai9.livejournal.com]

I don't think she knows what state she was born in. I know she does not have a passport because she would have used it as ID for the times she needed ID, but she didn't have ID. Would the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts be used to track down info on her mother and possibly, subsequently, her via showing her mother had a kid?

[moechus.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately, personal information is generally only given to the person it relates to in order to protect their privacy. I wonder if there isn't some legal process to compel her mother to give her the information.

[tenshikurai9.livejournal.com]

She's told her mother the story of what's been happening to her for the past few weeks and for some reason, it's finally clicking with the woman. Her mother is sending some information via priority mail and hopefully it'll be the kind of information she needs.

How would one use the Freedom of Information/Privacy Acts in this situation (in case she doesn't quite get what she needs from her mother.)

[roguishpaladin.livejournal.com]

I don't think the Freedom of Information Act is relevant, unless she's a government-created clone. It only governs federal documents, and birth certificates are a town-created document which is (at least in Mass) then recorded by the state.

If her mother says she was born in Mass, check out this site. If she can't get it from her mother, your best bet is to do a best guess and pick a state to try to research in.

Does she not have any ID at all? Maybe she could track something down by Social Security Number, though I have no idea how much information they're willing to give you there.

[moechus.livejournal.com]

Federal documents often contain relevant information about birth. For example, your birthplace and date of birth on on your passport. If she could obtain a copy of her application for a SSN or a passport, it might well have what she's looking for.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, there is a state version of the Freedom of Information Act in Massachusetts (and probably in most states) that covers documents created by branches of the state government.

[tenshikurai9.livejournal.com]

If she has a social security number, it's a bit of information her mother knows and not her.

[moechus.livejournal.com]

Every agency has its own forms and procedures. I have only dealt with immigration requests. You can probably get the info off of the agency website.