In applying for BadgerCare here in WI I have to prove that I am a citizen of the U.S.

[elocs]

and I've never had to do that before. I am nearly 57 years old and proving that I am a citizen has simply never come up before. I guess that something I have always taken for granted, and evidently shouldn't.

Now I'm frantically trying to find my birth certificate. I wonder how many here know exactly where their birth certificate may be?

[The Straight Story]

1. I wish could unrec laws

:hide:

[hobbit709]

2. Currently having to do the same with my driver's license.

[madaboutharry]

3. You could always get a new copy of your birth certificate.

Just contact the appropriate department or agency in the state you were born in and they will send it to you for a small fee.

[elocs]

6. Well, since it is due in a week, that is not going to happen.

I know it is somewhere in the house, that I put it somewhere where it would be safe, but I'm not sure at the moment where that might be. The trouble with living alone is that you have no one but yourself to blame when things go missing.

[madaboutharry]

8. Oh, that happens to me all the time.

I actually scare myself, if you know what I mean.

[katanalori]

11. I am pretty good at "finding" missing things

I don't know why, I just am. I need to "picture" the birth certificate. Can you tell me the year you were born? Also, if you are male or female? I will try to help.

[MADem]

4. Go to your state registrar. vital stats, what-have-you if you cannot find it.

A passport will do it, if you have one. Voter registration card ought to do it as well (you have to be a citizen to vote) if your state does those (mine does not).

[elocs]

9. No passport or voter registration card.

In fact, I cannot remember the last time I have had to show any ID when voting and I've voted since 1972. I was born in NY state so I would never get another birth certificate before this is due in a week (yes, they've given me a whole week even though I applied 3 weeks ago).

[MADem]

12. Call the registrar in NY and explain your dilemma--you might be able to

pay extra for an expedited copy.

I know that in recruiting they help people out, and the recruiters can get them in a day or three. Give it a try--they might even be willing to fax you a copy with a note and number to call for verification, with a promise that a hard copy is in the mail.

You'll not know unless you ask.

[summerbreeze]

5. The Register of Deeds--county court house where you were born

will have it (if born in WI). give your county courthouse a call.

[elocs]

7. Nope, I was born in NY state.

I'm sure I'll find it, I just wish I knew where it was.

[Hawkeye-X]

10. They can overnight you the birth ceritificate

if you pay enough $$ for processing fees...

[katanalori]

13. OK, I will just give you the list of "most found" places

for birth certificates.

Tool box (bottom), fishing tackle box, jewelry box, cigar box, shoe box.

Inside bible or a book that you once found important.

Inside photo album.

Good luck.

[elocs]

17. I know it won't be in any of those places. I have one more safe to check,

but at the moment I am watching "The Fifth Element" on BlueRay while I hear the fireworks going off at the local minor league ball park (the home team must have won), plus it is just beginning to thunder in the distance.

My frantic hunt will wait until tomorrow. On the other hand I did find my daughter's birth certificate as well as my grade school report cards and my father's letters home to his dad from the European front in WWII (he landed on Omaha Beach and wrote home a week later to tell his dad that he almost had one less son). I sure do love finding everything except what I am searching for though.

[elocs]

14. I guess my point is really about having to prove I am a U.S. citizen

and I wonder how many of us could readily do that. I can only imagine how an immigrant must feel.

I'm sure I will eventually find my birth certificate. It will be in the last place I left it.

[undeterred]

15. You can get it from the clerks office

in the county where you were born.

[Orangepeel]

16. You can order it from here for $30

I had to replace by birth certificate and my marriage certificate and it worked fine

http://www.vitalchek.com/

[WillowTree]

18. I have a copy of mine in the safe under my desk,

Along with my baptismal certificate, my parents' death certificates, my college transcripts, my marriage certificate and divorce decree, and the title to my car, among other things. My passport would be in there, too, if I had one but I let that expire because I haven't needed one for years.

Never did know why people don't maintain copies of their important documents in a safe place where they can access them.

[elocs]

19. Ahh, if everyone were like you the world would be a better organized

and more boring place. I can't understand why everyone doesn't do things as I do either.

[elocs]

20. Well, I found it! Hallelujah! It was in exactly the last place I left it.

It took me most of Saturday to find it, but the upside is that I found a lot of other stuff that I didn't know exactly where they were either. Ultimately I did have some inkling of some of the things I had stored it with and that's where it was--at the very bottom of the pile.