Judy When a baby is born, the hospital issues a nice birth notification to the parents. This is usually signed by the doctor, has the hospital seal on it and you are sent on your way. this is NOT a legal birth certificate, more of a courtesy tradition by the hospital. The birth mother fills out a form before she leaves the hospital. the babies name and the legal parents, their address, etc are on this questionaire form. From this form the hospital types up the 'pretty birth certificate'.....the hospital is responsible for sending the birth form the mother filled out to the state registry office. the state then puts all of the information onto the legal form, and this they certify as being the legal and only valid birth certificate. the birth parents then need to write to the state, send $5.00 (in CT) and the state registry office will then mail them the legal raised seal copy of the birth. this is the only one that is legal, and it is required for a passport, etc. in connecticut, the birth town gets a copy of the legal certificate, with the raised seal, and the state keeps the original one. in the state of connecticut, one must write to the birth town to get a copy of their legal birth certificate...or a death certificate...or a marriage certificate. hope this clears up some of the confusion for you. sandee Subject: [CTNEWHAV] Birth Certificates > Recently I received birth documents which my mother had kept. I have the > birth certificate from New haven, baptismal certificate with my name altered > {won't get into that!}. I also have a document issued by the Hospital of St. > Raphael which is a certificate of birth with the hospital's seal signed by the > doctor and the hospital administrator. I cannot recall ever seeing one of these > documents before. Would there be a file at the hospital with these documents > or a book? What would be the reason to issue this document when my birth > certificate is on file in the vital records office. My guess is that you needed > to physically take the document to city hall to register the birth. It seems a > little redundant. Which brings me to the original question: Was it the > parent's responsibility to register the birth or the hospital? If there are > hospital records, I would like to get a look at them. Is this a legal doument? > I was born in 1949 in New haven, Connecticut. > > > ==== CTNEWHAV Mailing List ==== > Need to reach Colleen, the discussion coordinator? Send her an email > at <ladyaudris@earthlink.net>. > > ============================== > To join Ancestry.com and access our 1.2 billion online genealogy records, go to: > http://www.ancestry.com/rd/redir.asp?targetid=571&sourceid=1237 >