Getting a Birth Certificate, Social Security Card, and Passport After a Home Birth in Los Angeles

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When you have a hospital birth, the staff takes care of the paperwork needed for getting your child’s birth certificate and social security card. When delivering at home, the responsibilities fall on you. There was a lot we learned, including unnecessary office visits at very early hours, so we wanted to help other families out there in streamlining the process.

First, let’s talk about the order in which you need to acquire said documents. First comes the birth certificate; then, the social security card; and finally, the passport.

Birth Certificate

You need to call and make an appointment if you live and gave birth in Los Angeles County. For us, the next available time slot was 4 weeks out from the phone call. We weren’t thrilled about that time frame in the moment, however, we realized that the last thing we wanted to do with our newborn was leave the house. So the wait time was actually a blessing in disguise.

Phone Number: (213) 288-7812 (A game of phone tag is more than likely to happen.)

On the day of your appointment, you will go to the Department of Public Health Vital Records Office at 313 N. Figueroa Street, Room Lobby-1, Los Angeles, CA 90012. I highly recommend having the birth certificate application already printed and filled out. In addition to the application, you will also need to bring the following:

  1. Photo ID in the form of a (valid) Driver’s License or Passport;

  2. Proof of the pregnancy in the form of a signed pregnancy test verification letter or "Affidavit of Birth Information for Out-of-Hospital Births" form (provided by your midwife);

  3. Your baby + a letter on the pediatrician's letterhead stating (1) the date the child was born, (2) the baby's health conditions, (3) baby's weight at the time of the visit, and (4) the child's complete name and address;

  4. And proof that the birth occurred in Los Angeles County. Another form our Midwife gave us at the time of our daughter’s birth proved this. And, there are several other ways to prove that the mother was in Los Angeles County on the date that the birth occurred (which you can read more about by clicking the link below on #5).

  5. Here are the full Requirements for Registering Out-of-Hospital Births

The benefit to doing this process is you receive a certified birth certificate on the spot. You can also request additional certified copies to be made at the same appointment. We decided to have three made. The cost is $28 per birth certificate and they accept payment in the form of cash, credit/debit, check (payable to County of Los Angeles), and money order.

Social Security Card

So this one is a bit of a pain as this is the one step where you can not make an appointment for at the the Social Security Administration office. You must show up in person. You’ll want to go to whichever location is closest to you. (Here’s a list of all the ones in California.) If you make it a priority to be one of the first ones in line (get there 1 hour before they open their doors), you should be in and out in under 20 minutes. Here is what you need to bring with you:

  1. Your child’s official birth certificate.

  2. Your child. In addition, bring your proof of pregnancy that you brought for the birth certificate (see above #2).

  3. Legal guardians. All legal parents should be present and should bring either your driver’s license or passport.

  4. The application for a new social security card, which can be filled out and found here.

  5. For additional documents that may be used instead of the ones mentioned here, please visit SSA.

Passport

This is perhaps the easiest of the three to obtain, if, and only if, you are not pressed for an out-of-country visit. As passports are not a requirement to have, this process has a slower turnaround time, but of course, can be expedited for a fee.

A neat trick we learned through this process was that the Beverly Hills Library can process passports! It’s a much happier, cleaner, kid-friendly, beautiful place to visit over the government buildings. So if you are in the Los Angeles area, or can manage a quick Google search, there may be other unique spots that will issue you a passport.

In addition to having the passport form filled out, you will also need to bring:

  1. Child’s official birth certificate along with a photocopy of the front (and back, if there is printed information).

  2. Legal guardian(s) present ID, such as a fully-valid driver's license or passport and a photocopy of the front and back of each ID that you choose to present.

  3. Both/All parents/guardians must authorize the issuance of your child's passport. The best way to do this is for both of you to go with the child in person when you apply.

And there you have it.

It’s a bit of a nuisance to manage and get done, but it’s a lot easier that we anticipated. And here you now have all the documents and lists to have it go (hopefully) as smoothly as possible.