Birth certificate re-registering

Cynder · Post by **Cynder** » Sun May 31, 2015 5:00 am

Hello,

I am new here and my only goal is this. I have a daughter with a Finnish Citizen, who basically left "Father" blank on the birth certificate where father is supposed to be typed. My daughter is now 15 and living in the USA. Is there anyway to go back and put my name down as the father? Re-registering the birth certificate?

**Sponsor:**

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sun May 31, 2015 6:55 am

We don't really have birth certificates in the US sense. What you want is an extract from the central population database:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=53032#p420270

But is the father listed there; was the paternity officially confirmed?

(I don't also know how easily you order extracts to abroad from maistraati (local register offices), but that should not be hard to find out by asking
http://www.maistraatti.fi/en/ )

Flossy1978 · Post by **Flossy1978** » Sun May 31, 2015 8:12 am

This is an interesting situation. Can you keep us up to date about how you end up working this out, please?

Are you trying to get custody?

Maybe you will need to prove you are the child's Father? I don't think you can just say you are. Otherwise anyone could do that.

tjawatts · Post by **tjawatts** » Sun May 31, 2015 9:49 am

I guess there is no custody issue. If the child is 15 then I think they are allowed to decide themselves.

But perhaps the OP would like their daughter to be able to live in the US more easily (I dont know rules of US citizenship)

T

betelgeuse · Post by **betelgeuse** » Sun May 31, 2015 10:41 am

tummansininen wrote:
Flossy1978 wrote:This is an interesting situation. Can you keep us up to date about how you end up working this out, please?

Are you trying to get custody?

Maybe you will need to prove you are the child's Father? I don't think you can just say you are. Otherwise anyone could do that.
Very interesting, because (at least in the present day) I am of the understanding that Finnish women have the right not to name the father and the father has NO rights over the child, ever, if they were not married. If they were married, I think his name would have gone in automatically if he were domiciled in Finland at the time. We have had fathers in here before learning to their dismay that they cannot have any contact with their newborn children nor can they stay in Finland on the basis of having a child here, thanks to the mother not wanting the father in their child's life - which I have to say is quite backwards compared with most of the world - a father should have the right to be in his child's life.

I'm assuming that either you were not married or you were not domiciled in the Finnish population registry at the time of your daughter's birth. The answer is probably going to be that you don't have the right to be entered there as the father; it might turn into a legal situation for you to try and assert that right with Finland.

The law was changed this year. It's no longer possible for the mother to object if the father is unknown and the mother is not married.

http://oikeusministerio.fi/fi/index/val ... minen.html

Cynder wrote: I am new here and my only goal is this. I have a daughter with a Finnish Citizen, who basically left "Father" blank on the birth certificate where father is supposed to be typed. My daughter is now 15 and living in the USA. Is there anyway to go back and put my name down as the father? Re-registering the birth certificate?

Since the daughter is 15 permission of the child is required to add the father:

http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/alkup/2015 ... idp1343392

You should contact the nearest Finnish embassy or consulate as they have the power to deal with such matters:

http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/alkup/2015 ... idp1337984

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Sun May 31, 2015 12:14 pm

The original question does not make clear whether the paternity is registered or not (although if the OP did nothing for that effect then (and sort of like seems obvious was not married), it is not registered) . The flimsy paper from hospital does not tell that.

betelgeuse · Post by **betelgeuse** » Sun May 31, 2015 8:36 pm

tummansininen wrote:Excellent news betelgeuse, is it retrospective?

Actually the new law seems to come to effect on January 1st 2016 (finlex could really show this at the top too):

http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/alkup/2015 ... idp3826032

The new law will be applied also to children born before 2016 (unless otherwise explicitly mentioned).

http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/alkup/2015 ... idp3829024

Flossy1978 · Post by **Flossy1978** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 8:47 am

Wow. That's interesting.

I guess everything catches up.

Like in the olden days when the child was always whatever religion the mother was. And whatever citizenship the mother was

The law needs to be changed regarding horrible Finnish parents who aren't the main provider for children they've had with foreign nationalists, who keep their ex's in Finland out of spite. I heard plenty of stories of parents who have very little to do with their children, but since the law always sides with the Finnish parent, the foreigner is never allowed to leave with any "Finnish" children, regardless of how sh*t the Finnish parent is. Basically keeping non-Finns as hostages.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Mon Jun 01, 2015 9:12 am

Flossy1978 wrote: Like in the olden days when the child was always whatever religion the mother was. And whatever citizenship the mother was

In the olden days, provided they were married, the child and the mother or course had the nationality of the father (in 1944 that was real bummer for those mothers that had years earlier married a German man).

The law needs to be changed regarding horrible Finnish parents who aren't the main provider for children they've had with foreign nationalists, who keep their ex's in Finland out of spite. I heard plenty of stories of parents who have very little to do with their children, but since the law always sides with the Finnish parent, the foreigner is never allowed to leave with any "Finnish" children, regardless of how sh*t the Finnish parent is. Basically keeping non-Finns as hostages.

There are almost always two parts to the story and the court has a difficulty in being sure which is the more fair one. The two parties at least once have agreed to raise the children here. Choices have consequences, when children are involved they tend to be of the long term kind.

Cynder · Post by **Cynder** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 11:34 am

Im not trying to get Custody... I merely want to declare that I AM the father and for my name to be put on her birth certificate. This is not an attempt for custody rights. If i tried for that it would only cause emotional stress by taking her out of her bubble. The Mother and I don't really see Eye to Eye, and yes I was an idiot back when she was born. I listened to "friends" and didn't take the situation seriously. It is only now that i realize how big of a mistake that was, and I want to Right and wrong.... even if the "right" is only a minor correction towards the wrong.

Rip · Post by **Rip** » Tue Jun 02, 2015 1:44 pm

Child presumably was born in Finland (you don't actually state that, but your asking the question here makes no sense if she wasn't).

There really is no birth certificate to amend. If you want to have your paternity here confirmed - to start with, do even you live in Finland (you said your daughter does not)? If not, it looks like the Finnish authorities don't have any authority to start proceedings (Section 48 of the paternity act: http://www.finlex.fi/fi/laki/ajantasa/1 ... 0700#L7P48 )

Cynder · Post by **Cynder** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 1:46 am

The mother had our daughter in Finland. its where she grew up and until recently moved to the US where i am located. The Mother is also Finnish.

AldenG · Post by **AldenG** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 6:53 am

Cynder wrote:The mother had our daughter in Finland. its where she grew up and until recently moved to the US where i am located. The Mother is also Finnish.

So it sounds like the issue could be citizenship. If the mother is a Finn and you're a US citizen and you're the "official" father, then your daughter has dual citizenship. But without your name in the Finnish paperwork, unless you did some kind of magic like registering her at birth with the US consulate showing you as father, your daughter has only Finnish citizenship. Is that correct?

OTOH you say "Mother is also Finnish" -- do you mean also like the daughter or also like you? You start out by saying you had a daughter with a Finnish citizen, which sounds like you are not one.

Finland trusts the papers (preferably with lots of stamps) but the US may trust the actual fact. Would a DNA test provide grounds for US citizenship regardless of what was listed at birth?

AldenG · Post by **AldenG** » Wed Jun 03, 2015 6:55 am

Looks like yes.

You probably knew that already, but others may not.

In order to transmit U.S. citizenship to a child born abroad, among other requirements, there must be a biological relationship between the child and a U.S. citizen parent or parents. Genetic testing is a useful tool for verifying a stated biological relationship in the absence of sufficient other evidence to establish such relationship. Commonly tested relationships that may be used to establish paternity and/or maternity in citizenship claims arising from birth abroad to a U.S. citizen father or mother include father-child, mother-child, child and full brother or sister, child and half brother or sister, and avuncular relationships (child and paternal aunt/uncle/grandparent)., full. DNA testing is the only biological testing method currently accepted by the Department to establish a biological relationship. However, due to the expense, complexity, and logistical delays inherent in parentage testing, genetic testing generally should be used only in the absence of sufficient other evidence (documentation, photos, etc.) establishing the relationship..

http://travel.state.gov/content/travel/ ... sting.html

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