HOLIDAY/BIRTH CERT CRISIS 😩

[OHFUCKCRAP]

Name changed incase anyone can link me to previous posts.

IM PANICKING.

me and my dd age 7 are due to go abroad in 2.5 weeks. We have different surnames and I’m seperated from her father. Got his permission to take her out the country and he’s going to provide a letter no problem.

On the gov website it says I need her birth certificate to prove I’m her mother. Lovely ! Collect it from my stepdad (he keeps all my important documents always has done) and he’s fucking LAMINATED it 😩😩😩 so god knows what they are going to do if they ask for it.

I go back on the gov website to order a new one that is posted the next working day. AMAZING. Only I’m putting in her details TIME AND TIME again and nothing is coming up. Can’t even find her on the GRO index.

I’ve rambled and I’m sorry but WHAT DO I DO NOW?!! She has had a very shit year and if they turn us away her heart will break 😩😩😩

Check the original birth cert is okay to use. I know that sounds silly but for some things I have needed recent copies instead of the original - goodness knows why. Hopefully you can find DD on the system soon or someone there can help tomorrow.

I'm sure it's true that laminating can I validate a birth certificate if you're trying to use it for official purposes eg apply for a first passport, registering for a marriage etc. That's very different from using it as evidence in an unofficial capacity like getting on a flight, where even a photocopy or photograph will do. Honestly, you'll be totally fine.

Use scissors to cut through the clear plastic that sticks out beyond the edge of the paper. Go all the way around, a close to the paper as you can. Don’t cut the paper!! The plastic should open up like a plastic wallet. The plastic is not stuck to the paper, think of the paper as vacuum sealed like bacon or something

Using the GRO don’t you input the system number bottom left hand corner. And find it that way?

Why did he laminate it

@dearanon I have no idea 😩 I wish he would of asked me. I know it come from a good place

Just photocopy the laminated certificate?
You don't need the original.

Laminated would be fine surely. I have been asked only once on return at Gatwick. My kids have a different name also.

Perhaps you need to look after your documents yourself?

(Unless it was to stop ex getting access to stuff?)

OP it does NOT say you need her birth certificate on the gov website.

"A letter from the person with parental responsibility for the child is usually enough to show you’ve got permission to take them abroad.
You might be asked for the letter at a UK or foreign border, or if there’s a dispute about taking a child abroad. The letter should include the other person’s contact details and details about the trip.
It also helps if you’ve:

• evidence of your relationship with the child, eg a birth or adoption certificate"

With your letter from her dad and a copy of her birth certificate, you'll be more than fine. "It helps if you've evidence". You've got that evidence, and you don't actually need it anyway.

@diddl lol there is a perfectly reasonable explanation as to why he has them thank you.

I had to replace my birth certificate a few years ago, I just called the registry office where I was registered and they sent me another. It cost £11.

but don’t panic too much. I went abroad with a friend and her dd. She did have a letter from her dds dad or anything. She had told me to book it in her dds new last name which she had changed it to about a year prior to the trip. But I hen we got to the airport it turned out her dds passport was in her old name (dads surname) they just changed it at the airport no drama and. No asking for any sort of permission from him. My dds have a different surname to me, but the same on their passport and birth certificate and no one questioned that either. They were all 11+ so old enough to make their own passport wishes known so don’t know if that makes a difference, but no issues at all.

I don’t think it’s a legal requirement to carry the birth certificate.

@namechange55465 thank you for that. I am overthinking it, thank you everyone

That should have been she didn’t have a letter from her dds dad.

It'll be fine. My dd has a different surname to me and I took my friends dd with me. So 3 of us, all with different surnames, me an adult, a 15 yr old and an 11 yr old. We've just come back from Spain and it was never questioned, I wasn't asked for any documentation

Use a scalpel and cut the laminate, it's two sheets of plastic vacuumed.

So you'll be able to slide out the certificate.

Check DM info sent x

I couldn't find my son's to apply for a passport. We have different surnames but I made an app at the local registry office to get a copy. Printed one out for me that day.

I’ve travelled abroad lots of times with my children who have different surnames and have only once been asked for the birth certificate- I think even then, it was less them asking than me offering when they asked a couple of questions.

Usually not asked, and never been asked for a letter from their father (even though we usually do a letter for each other - the letter is nothing to do with the different surnames, it’s just that technically each parent should get one from each other)

I also agree that each of the options to take the laminated version, cut the lamination off or order a new one are all good options.

As PP have said laminated doesn’t mean stuck together, it’s just the edges around have been heated and stuck to each other. Just carefully with a blade slice the very edge of the laminated plastic where it meets the paper inside and slide the birth certificate out. Job done.

Your poor stepdad - he must be feeling pretty terrible .

Can anybody tell me where I put in the GRO reference number (that a lovely mumsnetter has found for me)

@Crochetablanket i haven’t told him. I haven’t made a song and dance about it. I’m just trying to get it sorted.

I have been asked once and then had to show a birth certificate.

I really don't think you'd have a problem with a laminated one OP but as PPs have said, just a craft knife and a steady hand and you'll have yourself an un laminated one pretty quickly. Don't panic.