What if you cannot provide a birth certificate?

Some adoptees do not have a birth certificate. This can cause difficulties, for example when a copy of the birth certificate of both partners is requested with the marriage registration. What can you do if you cannot provide a birth certificate? In this article we list all the information.

Difficulties with the marriage registration

When An Sheela wanted to get married in 2004, she was unable to provide a birth certificate. “The problem was that we had already planned everything: the date, the room, the catering… The invitations had already been sent.” When An Sheela learned at the council that a birth certificate was required, she blocked. “I was disappointed and angry at the same time. There was a procedure through the court to obtain a birth certificate, but within the timing I would not have managed to get that sorted out administratively.”

Karen also encountered difficulties with her marriage registration in 1999. “I took my adoption certificate with me, but that was not enough. I had to provide a birth certificate. I had a Philippine birth certificate stamped in the year 1977, but that was not enough either, because it had to be a recent date.”

Mandatory registration in the registers since 2019

Sophie Verdoodt, file manager at FCA, the Federal Central Authority (FPS Justice, International Adoption Service), offers clarification as to why a copy of the birth or adoption certificate is not available for some adoptees. “Ideally, when adoptive parents registered their adopted child in the population register of their municipality, the civil registry office also entered the foreign documents in the registers of civil status, both in the birth register and the adoption register.” However, this was not a legal obligation before 2019. This only became mandatory in 2019 with the establishment of the DABS, the Database for Civil Registry Acts.

“The rules used to be much less strict,” Sophie continues. “Often it was only about registering the adopted person in the population register. The parentage was established and the adoption was thus recognized, but the civil status section was overlooked.” If neither the adopters nor the municipality took the initiative to register the foreign birth or adoption documents in the registers of civil status, nothing would happen.

“Adoptions have been recognized by us since 2005,” says Sophie. “From the FCA, we emphasized to adopters not only to contact the Population Service, but also the Civil Registry Service. This advice was often followed, but not always. Fortunately, with the establishment of the DABS, that is no longer possible.”

The lack of a birth or adoption certificate in the registers of civil status can therefore no longer occur for adoptions that took place since 2019. For adoptions that were realized before 2019, the deeds may be missing from the registers of civil status. Often this only comes to light years after the adoption, for example if one wants to get married.

Support from FCA in obtaining the birth certificate

Fortunately, FCA can mean a lot to adoptees who have difficulties obtaining their birth certificate, so that court proceedings are often avoided.

FCA currently receives most of the questions from adoptees who were adopted in the 1980s or 1990s. Sophie explains: “They are now adults and often need their birth certificates following a marriage. They notice that this is missing and contact us to ask how we can support this.”

Roughly speaking, a distinction can be made between two situations. Or is there still a deed available somewhere, but it was never included in the registers of civil status. Or there is no deed available at all.

Documents available

In the first situation, there is a foreign birth certificate and/or foreign adoption decision, but no transfer has been made in the registers of civil status. FCA can then intervene relatively quickly and easily by starting a procedure in which they look for the necessary data and documents. Based on the information obtained, FCA issues a certificate with which the municipality can draw up the Belgian birth and/or adoption certificate.

In the best case, if all data and documents are available, FCA can deliver this certificate within a few weeks. “All we need are the most essential documents: the foreign birth certificate and/or the foreign adoption decision,” explains Sophie. “Adoptions that have taken place since 2005 have been recognized by us. We therefore have a copy of those files and are in possession of the necessary documents to quickly draw up such a certificate.”

“For 2005 we have no archive. That is more difficult”, Sophie continues. “If the adoption took place via an adoption service, we can check whether the service or the Flemish Adoption Center still has documents, but there is little archive of files from the 1980s and earlier. We therefore ask that people check for themselves whether they have a foreign birth certificate or foreign adoption decision that they can send to us by e-mail.”

It does not have to be original or legalized documents. “Often the originals can no longer be found, but you can still find a copy of a document somewhere at home, whether or not in a foreign language, on which we can base ourselves that an adoption decision has been made in the country of origin. We accept them, knowing that they are old documents that may not have been legalized at the time. We are very flexible there. Please note: the final decision for the acceptance of the documents lies with the municipality and municipalities sometimes differ in this. In any case, we always try to find a pragmatic solution between different authorities.”

In the absence of a foreign birth certificate, according to the Civil Code, one can fall back on a document that points to an adoption decision. “Indeed,” says Sophie, “on that basis we can draw up a deed of adoption and a deed of adoption according to BW art. 368-10 can be used in case there is no more birth certificate. In that case, the certificate of adoption is presented as material evidence as a certificate of birth.”

No documents available

In rare cases, nothing is available at all. That's the second situation. This is mainly a matter of poor archiving. Sophie clarifies: “A foreign adoption order must be submitted when the adoptee is registered in the population register. Otherwise the origin could not have been established. The only question is what happened to those documents afterwards.”

In the event that nothing can be found in Belgium, FCA will try to contact the foreign central authority as far as possible to check whether documents can still be supplied from abroad. Whether this succeeds depends very much on the country. This is often difficult and is not guaranteed success. “We are successful in some countries. In other countries we encounter little cooperation and/or no documents are available anymore,” says Sophie.

“Unfortunately, poor archiving is a global problem,” Sophie continues. “If we can't get an adoption decision anywhere, the file gets stuck and unfortunately we can't offer any further help. The mere determination that a descent link was established at the time of registration in the population register is insufficient. There is then too little documentation available for us to draw up a certificate.” Adopted persons are then forced to appeal to the court.

Translation costs

FCA's service is completely free. However, bear in mind that the language legislation applies in administrative cases and that documents in the Dutch language area must be submitted in Dutch (exception: Brussels-Capital and municipalities with facilities where French is also the administrative language). The language legislation therefore provides that documents must be translated into Dutch if you live in the Dutch language area.

Usually there will therefore be translation costs that will be borne by the adoptee. “There are countries with multi-page judgments and unfortunately that is quite expensive,” says Sophie. “We ensure that the adoptee is informed about this and that - in addition to our certificate and the original foreign document in a foreign language - the sworn translation into Dutch is added when we pass on the information to the civil registry for the preparation of the deed. Based on this, the civil registrar can easily draw up the deed.”

Proceedings through the court

If no documents can be found, court intervention is required. There are then various options, in which it can be useful to call on a lawyer specialized in family law.

Replacement verdict

As an adoptee, you can submit a petition to the family court to have your missing birth certificate replaced (BW art. 35). You can prove the destruction or loss and the contents of the deed by writings, other authentic sources or by witnesses (BW art. 26). “Documents from FCA showing that nothing can be found can then be used as evidence,” explains Veronique Van Asch, lawyer at RAVA.

The public prosecutor will investigate and after receiving their advice you will be summoned to appear before the family court. “The time frame of such a procedure is difficult to estimate,” says Veronique. “Everything depends on the speed with which the public prosecutor's office and the court work. That often differs from court to court.” The cost is the docket duty of the petition, which currently amounts to € 165.

If the court allows the replacement, the civil registrar will draw up a replacement deed. The judge's verdict remains valid and you can use it in all situations where you have to present a birth certificate in Belgium (BW art. 27).

Act of fame

If you are unable to provide a birth certificate and are unable - or can demonstrate that you are encountering serious difficulties - to obtain it (or any other document that replaces that certificate in accordance with local law), you can apply to the justice of the peace of your principal place of residence. request a certificate of acknowledgment. You then submit an application to the clerk of the justice of the peace, after which you will be invited to appear before the justice of the peace (BW art. 164/3 2°). You pay € 50 roll right for this.

In the deed of acquaintance, two witnesses (at least 18 years old) declare the first and last name, profession and place of residence of the adoptee and those of his birth parents if they are known. In addition, they also declare the place of birth and, if possible, the date of birth and the reasons for submitting the certificate. The witnesses sign the deed of acquaintance with the justice of the peace (BW art. 164/4). Subsequently, the justice of the peace transfers the deed of acquaintance to the family court, after which the family court, after hearing the public prosecutor, must approve it (BW art. 164/5). You pay € 165 again for this.

Declaration under oath

If it is impossible to obtain a deed of acquaintance and you can prove this, you can fall back on an affidavit. This is a declaration by the adoptee himself before the civil registrar, with permission from the family court, granted on application and after hearing the Public Prosecution Service (BW art. 164/6).

“You can also use a deed of acquaintance and an affidavit in all situations where you have to present a birth certificate,” says Veronique. “Once obtained, you do not have to go through the procedure a second time.”

Still married

An Sheela and her husband were able to have their civil wedding take place, albeit in a different municipality. “For me it was and remains double how that turned out. I was already officially living in Wallonia at that time and when I inquired there, they said that I could get married there without presenting a birth certificate.”

Meanwhile, An Sheela still has no birth certificate. “I have always refused to obtain it through legal channels and to incur a lot of costs. Why wasn't that standard procedure when I was adopted from India? I am happy to hear that FCA can now do something for adoptees, although I regret that the translation costs will be with us due to language legislation. After all, we did not ask for it ourselves.”

On the advice of the civil registrar, Karen started a court procedure. In the end, she never had to appear in court. “Suddenly we were told that it was all right. We did the marriage registration again with my original birth certificate, my adoption certificate and my parents' marriage certificate at hand. It was never entirely clear to me why this worked. Apparently there were many sham marriages with Asian women in Bruges at that time and they must have had that doubt with us as well.”

Since then, Karen has not needed her birth certificate. “My adoption was pronounced in Antwerp, so I suspect there is a deed of this, but I don't actually know if my birth certificate is also available in the registers of civil status. I should check that out.”

Are you having difficulties obtaining your birth or adoption certificate? In all cases, contact the Federal Central Authority via adoption.int.adoption@just.fgov.be.

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