16 year old riding alone

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Kaiser requires ID even for routine doctor appts. It's one way to crack down on membership fraud.
 
JayPea said:
This past February when my drivers' license expired I wanted to apply for an enhanced driver's license. In order to do so I had to have amongst other things a state-issued birth certificate. They didn't accept the one I have that was issued by the hospital. So I had to shell out 32 bucks for an official one. Turns out my name on the state issued certificate was spelled differently than what was on the one from the hospital. No wonder I'm perpetually befuddled; for 54 years I'd been going by the wrong name! :wacko: Since I'd been going by what was spelled on the hospital certificate I just filed for a change of name on the state certificate. And in order to do THAT I needed two more forms of ID, only one of which I had. I finally got a print out from my county's elections board showing I'm a registered voter in lieu of a voter registration card. I washed my card through the washing machine eons ago and don't need one as Washington is vote by mail. All this hassle so I can get into Canada and ride the Canadian some time. I hope it's worth it!
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I'm a birth certificate geek. I got one for my kid from every possible agency; each agency scanned the original as it changed hands up the chain of command. However, at this point the only "hospital birth certificates" are construction paper souveniers with the footprints and all.

So you weren't born in Washington? It's one of the states that doesn't require any proof of status with regard to the person on the BC. I was thinking of ordering a special fully-legal BC for a relative and couldn't figure where in the application that proof of relationship was required (it isn't). In California, it's restricted to the named, parents, children, etc.

You should see what happened with a couple of sisters who were born "off the grid". Their parents moved around and never bothered to register their births with any government agency. They were taught by their parents and moved around. Eventually, one of them wanted to establish a legal life but couldn't even get a Social Security number, even though their parents testified in court and got late birth certificates issued. The SSA wouldn't accept them. In the end she sued the feds, and the State Dept agreed to issue her a passport card with her purported date of birth and place of birth, and the SSA agreed to accept them as per the court order.

http://lubbockonline.com/filed-online/2011-08-15/two-sisters-kentucky-sue-receive-social-security-numbers-work-blame-911

Strangely enough, there probably was a time when there wasn't as much a need for IDs.

There was a time when government agencies were more lax about proof of birth. A "hospital birth certificate" was typically accepted, even by the State Dept for passports. There's that scene in Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story where his father pulls out his hospital birth certificate and tells him he was born in San Francisco and that he can return to the US. It shows his dad unfolding his "Jackson Street Hospital" birth certificate as if it was his ticket to the US. The reality is that his parents had already filed for a return document to the US and had a ceretified copy of his City and County of San Francisco birth certificate before they ever left for Hong Kong.


http://www.cnn.com/2013/07/03/travel/bruce-lee-hk-exhibitio
 
I was born in Washington. I just know, according to the State of Washington Department of Records website two valid pieces of ID were required to change my name on the certificate. And I didn't know if the DOL place I went to would squawk if my name on my driver's license and on my birth certificate didn't match. I was taking no chances.
 
JayPea said:
I was born in Washington. I just know, according to the State of Washington Department of Records website two valid pieces of ID were required to change my name on the certificate. And I didn't know if the DOL place I went to would squawk if my name on my driver's license and on my birth certificate didn't match. I was taking no chances.
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Oh - to change your name. I kind of glanced through it and thought you said you needed ID to order the birth certificate. It seems kind of scary to me that anyone who can figure out a person's DOB can get a full unrestricted copy. And it's only $20 if you're willing to drive to Tumwater or order by mail. I take it the cost of gas made that cost prohibitive and you needed it faster than it would get to you by normal mail service.

You're at least living in a state with electronic printout records. In California if you get a name corrected, it would end up as an amended record and obvious to anyone that there was a name correction/change. The original document would still be there unsealed (unless it's an adoption), and the amendment is then page 2 whenever a birth record is ordered. And at that point the amended birth certificate can only be ordered from the state. We've got a funky system in California where the county files first and scans an image. Then it's handed off to the state, which scans it then archives it. The state usually recommends ordering from the county because of faster turnaround, but I'm not sure what would happen if the record is amended. I don't know if the counties get notice that the record has been amended.
 
You're right. I didn't need ID to order it. I did go ahead and have it mailed as I every once in a great while manage to think ahead. :lol: But the cost for postage was over 11 bucks. They were nice and mailed the replacement free of charge.
 
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JayPea said:
You're right. I didn't need ID to order it. I did go ahead and have it mailed as I every once in a great while manage to think ahead. :lol: But the cost for postage was over 11 bucks. They were nice and mailed the replacement free of charge.
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Like I said, California is a PITA about it. If a full copy is ordered by mail, that requires a notarized affidavit of eligibility to receive the document, where the requestor has to show identification. The max notary fee in California is $10, and that's usually what's charged. The state only issues vital records by mail; they have no office open to the public. Other states are more lenient, such as allowing a photocopy of the ID be sent with the application.

I'm already set up for my entire family. I've got everything I need. Even my three year old has photo ID and I take it with me just in case.
 
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Update to Acceptable Forms of Identification (ID)

6. Who must have Identification

b) Children 16-17

 * A child 16-17 who does not have identification must have another person 18 or over

obtain his or her travel documents. That person must show his or her own identification

when obtaining the travel documents.



 * Fares paid on trains for a child 16-17 traveling alone:



* If the child does not have his or her own identification, another person 18 or over must

wait with the child for the train to arrive, and then pay the conductor the fare on behalf of

the child, showing his or her own identification. The person waiting with the child may

not leave until the train as arrived, the fare has been paid, and the child is safely on the

train.

7. Who is not required to have Identification

a) Children 15 years old and under.

b) Children 16-17 who have others, 18 or over with proper identification, obtain their

travel documents
 
CaliforniaMom said:
BCL said:
Like I said, California is a PITA about it.
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Just wanted to say that California is a PITA about most things. :)
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I bought a couple of copies of my kid's certified BC from a local agency. It was easy because I could sign the affadavit in person and show my ID directly at no extra expense. I also lived a few miles away and had the time to do it.

If you want to do it by mail or VitalChek, it requires the affadavit be signed in the prescence of a notary, and that costs money unless you have a friend who will do it for free. This is state law, regardless of who is issuing it.

And California is different. The state maintains the archive of all birth certificates, death certificates, and marriage licenses, but only after a county has processed it. The state highly recommends that people obtain certified copies of vital records from the county offices, which have them archived as computer images and/or microform. The state won't even produce marriage certificates for certain years - they tell people to go to the corresponding county office.
 
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VentureForth, you will NEVER dethrone me as the forum King of mind numbingly, belly groaningly, cringe inducingly awful puns that make people want to hit the teller with a large stick.

I am the utter worst at telling them. And of worst comes to wurst we can all have hot dogs.
 
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