Art. 1281.8 Birth certificate requirement

Before an adoption can start, the lawyer handling the case must get a certified copy of the child's birth certificate. If the birth certificate is written in another language, the lawyer also needs a certified translation of it. This document has to be attached to the adoption petition when it's filed with the court.

Sometimes a certified birth certificate just isn't available. In that situation, the court can still move forward by making its own findings about the child's date of birth, place of birth, and parents. The court does this by following a separate state law, R.S. 40:79(C)(2), which lays out how to establish these facts when the usual paperwork is missing.

This rule exists to make sure the court has reliable information about the child before approving an adoption, while also giving families a way forward if a birth certificate can't be located or doesn't exist in the needed form.