One Child Left Behind: The Life of a Fourth Child
We’ve previously written about the life of a third child, and how you need to be careful not to let their needs slip between the cracks. Well, it turns out that the same sorts of things need to be said in defense of the fourth child, as well…
My lovely and talented wife was recently gathering the necessary paperwork to get passports for herself and the kids (I applied for my passport awhile back). When it got down to Son #4, she couldn’t find his birth certificate — all she could come up with was the unofficial “mother’s copy.” It seems that we managed to get through the first 2+ years of his life without having applied for his official birth certificate! Whoops! This is why we’ve lovingly labeled him “One Child Left Behind.”
Fortunately, getting the official copy was straightforward… We simply had to fill a bit of information on the unofficial copy, enclose a small fee, and mail it in.



Whoops!
Comment by Blaine Moore — Apr 3rd 2007 @ 8:26 amAt least you caught it in time to get before the trip…if not he really would have been left behind…
Comment by saving advice — Apr 6th 2007 @ 7:57 amI believe that both parents need to be present when applying for a child’s passport. You may want to check on that before only one of you goes down to the Post Office to apply.
Comment by Beth B. — Apr 9th 2007 @ 10:28 amNo, both parents don’t have to be present. You can substitute written permission from the absent parent if necessary. I can’t recall if this had to be notarized or not, but I think it did.