It really is nice having Sarah’s folks here. They’re looking after us while we look after Eloïse. I change her nappies, Sarah feeds her, and Sarah’s folks feed us. Then, we all watch Cold Feet in the evening. It’s working out really well.
Yesterday was the inaugural ride of the Cameleon. As the midday sun was so hot, we stayed within the streets of the surrounding area before returning home. We’ll venture further afield when our days become less busy.
This week will be the week of bureaucracy, I think. We went down to the Office of Vital Records in San Jose this morning to register Eloïse’s birth and pick up copies of the birth certificate. That required one previous trip last week, plus the attendance of our midwife. They don’t make it easy.
As I’ve previously written, they can accommodate neither the diaeresis over her first name, nor the number of characters in her forenames. For that reason, she now has a two page birth certificate, the second page being an official amendment to the first one. The only alternative was to fill in multiple names in the box for her first name, which could have awkward implications for her if she chooses to spend any time in the US once she’s older.
Armed with the birth certificate, I had hoped to immediately get her a social security number, but it turns out that two forms of identification are required to obtain this detail. We have only one, of course: her birth certificate.
I had hoped to get by with an affidavit from our midwife, testifying that Eloïse is who we claim her to be and that she was born when her birth certificate claims she was, but after standing in the queue for an hour at the social security office, I discovered they were having none of it and they sent me away empty-handed. We’re going to try to get a note from our paediatrician tomorrow and hope that that will suffice.
Other forms of identification they would have accepted from us are a baptismal certificate, her hospital records and proof of immunisation. Great, except that our daughter hasn’t been baptised, wasn’t born in a hospital and won’t be receiving immunisations any time soon. This is just another way in which those who don’t follow the mainstream are discriminated against. As if a baptismal record is a better form of identification than an affidavit from the woman who delivered her! And whatever happened to the separation of church and state?
A parallel piece of bureaucracy I need to take care of is obtaining an apostille for Eloïse’s birth certificate. This is required by the Dutch authorities before they will grant her a Dutch passport.
Unfortunately, it turns out that the California Secretary of State in San Francisco will not accept a certified birth certificate from the Vital Records office of the county of Santa Clara, because those are signed by the area health officer (in fact, they’re not even signed: the signature is preprinted). They want me to go to the Office of the Clerk Recorder to have the health officer’s signature certified.
Can you believe it? This is already a legally certified birth certificate, but it needs to be a certified certified birth certificate before the California Secretary of State will accept it. It looks like another drive down to San Jose is in my near future. Assuming I can obtain that without too much grief, I’ll then need to drive to San Francisco to obtain the apostille.
One way or another, this is going to be a busy week. We’re taking photos as we go.