Passport

[MysteriousCherry]

Hi all,
So I’m confused on applying for a passport for my child, he has a holiday coming up with his nan as well as a holiday with me in August and I’m trying to get it sorted in time I’m having trouble getting certain details such as grandparents birth certificate as I don’t speak to my mum as we’re not on good terms and also my child’s father he’s been absent since a week after he was born just unfortunately he’s on the birth certificate and his family doesn’t have it.

I was wondering if anyone else has had this issue and what did they do to get a passport for their child.

thank you

If Grandparents and Dad were born in the UK you'll be able to buy from Registery office.
But I don't recall needing Grandparents birth certs.

Just order them online.

You can order them from the GRO website.

I needed grandparents birth certificates and their marriage certificate but only because I was applying from abroad. Are you certain you need them?

I didn’t need grandparents certificates.

I think you only need the child’s birth certificate, showing your name on it, which you can reorder from the registry office if you’ve lost it.

You’ll also need your own birth certificate or passport.

Are you and your partner both British citizens? If so, I’m not sure why you need grandparent details.

Yes it’s my ex partner we’ve not been together or in contact since 2019 his family doesn’t have contact with him also, it’s mainly his birth certificate I’m worried about as they said they don’t have it. I spoke to my dad he said it’s only if something unusual flags up that’s when they need the grandparents birth certificate but I also spoke to my sons paternal nan she said she had to do it for her granddaughter. I’m debating wether to phone them and say I can give as much details about my sons father as I can but I’m not in contact or don’t know where he is

Have you looked at the gro website? You should be able to order a copy of his birth certificate.

I did for both my parents.

you can order copies of all these certificates online, you don't need anyone's permission, you can just get copies. They post them to you, as certified copies of original certificates.

I am pretty sure that they count as 'originals' if they are from the register office. For this purpose 'copies' is a photocopy.

My dad said he can give it to me if I need it, I’ve ordered mine off there too. It’s my sons fathers birth certificate I need could I do that if I’m not in contact with him ? neither are his family they had a look and can’t find it

You don't need contact. You can order anyone's birth certificate with the right information, which you'll have if you're in contact with your son's father's family.

Anyone can order a birth certificate as long as they have enough details eg date of birth, name at birth and Mums name - you can order from General Register Office (GRO) but if you know where born it is usually quicker to order direct from that Register Office

If you have no contact with the child’s father you can write a covering letter with the application stating this, they will not then require any father’s details. If you legally have sole responsibility via a court order you can send a copy of this instead. It’s worth considering getting sole responsibility legally so ensure you don’t have issue in the future

How would I go about doing that? I had social services about 2 years ago when he came out of jail, I made them aware I didn’t want my son to have contact with him but she just ignored what I said and arranged supervised visits with dad and paternal nan which lasted around a week then he didn’t see him again because he wanted to see him without any supervision then she signed me off

UPDATE - his paternal nan has ordered one, thank you all for advice! :)

You could have done it btw! Anyone is able to order anyone else’s birth certificate.

Ah that sounds really stressful, especially with two trips coming up — I’d be panicking a bit as well to be honest.
I haven’t had exactly the same situation, but I remember when I applied for my little one’s passport they didn’t actually ask me for grandparents’ birth certificates, just our details and the birth certificate. Have they specifically asked you for that, or is it coming up on the form?
With the dad being on the birth certificate, I think normally you don’t need his involvement unless there’s some sort of restriction, but I’m not 100% sure — hopefully someone who’s been through similar can confirm.
Might be worth giving the passport office a quick call as well, they can sometimes tell you exactly what’s actually needed rather than what the form makes it look like.
Out of curiosity, is this his first passport? I feel like they sometimes ask for a bit more detail for first-time applications.