Adoption

Name Changes

I am hoping that someone here can share their experience.

We have been matched for six months and the baby will be here this week via induction.  From the start, her parents have been dead set on not wanting to name her because they wanted us to do so.  All of a sudden they changed their minds because a social worker said that they should name her because we will be able to change it anyway.  We were told that they want us to rename her but they want to give her an original name before her name is changed.  We are completely supportive of whatever they want, of course.  But I have questions about when exactly we need to change her name, how long it takes, etc and I'm curious as to whether or not anyone has personal experience.  I'm not sure if we need to wait 6 months until the adoption is finalized or what.

Re: Name Changes

  • In our experience this was not a big deal, except for some additional paperwork on the back end. Your agency and/or lawyer should be able to walk you through it. We had a couple of phone call's with our agency's lawyer to make sure we were all on the same page. You can PM me if you want details, but the basic gist was:

    -DD's birthmom gave her a name in the hospital. It went on her original birth certificate, and the hospital processed paperwork for it to go on her Social Security card. Both documents when to her birthmom. She kept the BC (I think it ended up being very important for her to have), and forwarded the SS card to the adoption agency

    -All placement paperwork was either neutral ("Baby Girl born on [date]") or with the name we gave her (eg, "hereafter known as FirstName LastName")

    -TPR for birthdad was through the courts, they had DD's original name just to keep the paper trail going, but also linked her to us

    -Upon finalization, adoption decree had our name for her, and our lawyer submitted paperwork for a new BC, which showed up in the mail 6-8 weeks after that

    -We went to the SSA and had her SS card changed to her new name

  • With DD1, BM chose to put the name we chose on her birth certificate, obviously the exception was that it was her last name, not ours. At finalization, we were able to change her last name, which then meant new birth certificate and then requesting a ss card. With DD2, she was placed with us after living with her BM for three months. She has a name, birth certificate and ss card. We intend to change her name. Paperwork at the agency has both names "(legal name/new name)". We are having more difficulty this time around, at least with the doctors office. They had me enter her with her new name, I gave them all the original information (placement agreement, original BC, original SS card), but they are trying to bill under new name, which is not how she is under insurance. Really, it's not a big deal. The name change will be final when you finalize.
    I became a mother because of adoption. She is the absolute love of my life. Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker formerly known as sw_in_kc
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  • We are in the same position, expectant mom is naming baby boy, and we are changing it (but incorporating the name she is choosing), I only assume it won't be official for 6 months at finalization.
  • The name change isn't a big deal but can be a pain at the Dr's & with insurance.  Our DS's BM chose a name that went on the original birth certificate, but didn't request a SSN.  In the 7 months between the placement time and finalization all the official paperwork had BM's selected name on it.  At finalization we wrote in our selected name and waited until the new birth certificate and adoption decree came before getting a SSN.  The whole process after finalization took less than a month.

    We listed DS's new name immediately when adding him to our health insurance so we wouldn't have to go through a name change there.  We used his birth name at the Dr's office though since he was also on state funded health insurance at first and information from the hospital carried over in his records right away.  His prescriptions were always filled under his birth name at the pharmacy, but they did accept our insurance card with his new name.  So it got a little confusing, at times but nothing too bad.

    TTC #1 9/11-12/12, 9/12 Dx: Hypothyroid + DOR (AMH .76), IUI #1 & #2 BFN's
    1/13 Decided to pursue DIA, 4/13 Home study Approved 9/13 Matched!
    10/13 DS home with us! 2/14 TPR completed  5/14 ADOPTION IS FINAL!
    3/14 Surprise BFP 11/14 DD is here!
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
    Baby Birthday Ticker Ticker
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