[Biblemom]

We have had R-3yo, and L-5yo for almost a year now.
I got a copy of L's birth certificate today (needed it for something at her school). Found out the middle name that was on her original paperwork (also the same name that was supposed to be the mom's middle name) is wrong! It is not her middle name NOR her mothers! How crazy is that? This whole time I have been writing this name on paperwork, teaching her it, and it isn't even hers'! Does this happen often? How do I tell this child, OOPS! sorry but the middle name that you thought was your's isn't X it's Y????????

[CaddoRose]

I think it can be pretty common. My recent foster son had a biblical name, but the parents decided to spell it differently than the usual spelling. Every piece of paperwork had a different spelling on it. The parents thought the way they spelled it was the normal one!

[Newshyde]

Pretty common, sadly.
My former foster son had a different last name than the one I had. For the first six months everything was under the first last name, and then it got switched. Alot of stuff didn't get switched over however.
With my current kids, the baby has a very odd name. During the first 48 hours I received 3 different spellings of her name. The parents say it is a certain way, however, she had to go to the ER last week in the same hospital where she was born. The paperwork I got had a new spelling on it. I have a feeling that whenever I finally get her birth certificate, that will be the spelling on it.
in addition, she and her full bio brother, who I also have, have different last names. When I got their insurance cards their last names were switched. It's been four months and despite repeated attempts at getting new cards I still haven't so anytime I use them I have to explain that the last name is wrong but the ID number is rights. It's so annoying.

[mommytoEli]

we got a baby the day he was born. they wrote his name on everything. his medical card came in that name, his paperwork was in that name. he was signed up for daycare in that name. then his birth certificate came in 6 months later, they had gotten his last name COMPLETELY wrong...not just a misspelling. but then they left all of his medical and paperwork in the name they had "given" him in the beginning. so then people would call for both nick smith and nick jones. and when i called places for him, sometimes i had to give both names. lol. it was a mess. luckily i didnt have to explain it to him, but it didn't make it any easier on me. lol.

[JGarrick]

Originally Posted by Biblemom

This whole time I have been writing this name on paperwork, teaching her it, and it isn't even hers'! Does this happen often? How do I tell this child, OOPS! sorry but the middle name that you thought was your's isn't X it's Y????????

You could change her name to the one that you've been using.

[EandDmom]

I kept asking what our fkids middle names were. No one knew. Mom wasn't very up on her visits and if she managed to get one I would forget to ask her. Finally found out the girl and the babies because of court documents that got mailed to us. But not the oldest boy. I finally asked mom last visit and she said he doesn't have one that his first name was long enough and she couldn't think of one. so mystery finally solved.

[Biblemom]

Originally Posted by JGarrick

You could change her name to the one that you've been using.

They are in the process of TPR and unless family steps up we will adopt. Their mother and I both have the same middle name - just different spellings. I think L is old enough that I can give her the option of changing it to that if she wants to. I wouldn't want to change her name otherwise out of respect for their mom. She loves these children very much, just realized she can not care for them for a variety of reasons.

[fredalina]

i know 2 people this happened to who were not foster families. My sister named her son's middle name Britt; he goes by his MN. She always swore it was Brit, but when he started Kindergarten and she got his birth certificate out, she discovered his name was Britt.

The exact same thing happened to a friend of mine. She was never very religious but went through a phase (truly, it was a phase lol) about the time she was pregnant with her son. She named him Judah, and she went back and forth on his middle name She wanted to name him Judah Lion (like the Lion of Judah), but she might have named him Judah Ryan to be more mainstream. She lost his birth certificate and she went back and forth over which was his MN. Turns out it was Lion.

[irelady10]

Something like this happened with my fs...I didn't know his legal name for quite awhile...he is still in the system under a name that is not the name on his birth certificate, and I've been running around in circles trying to get this fixed

[stevenstwin]

Yep. Austin's name isn't Austin. Not legally, anyway. Mom changed her mind after naming him and started calling him the new one. It really ticks him off to have to put the legal name on anything - I told him after he turns 18 I'll pay to have it legally changed, if he wants. (not the first time I've done that - I bought my grandmother a middle name for her birthday one year. She was always sad she didn't have one - $150 and a legal name change, and she was "Margaret Ruth" :-)

[karla-k]

I had a friend. Her son's name is Allen Frederick. But when she was filling out financial aide stuff for college for him, neither of them could remember how they spelled Frederick...he went by Fred and that is all he knew!

[karla-k]

She named him Judah

our son's name is Judah But we weren't going through a phase

[carlychan]

This must be very common! My FS has different first names and last names! I forget which one to tell the doctors (medical cards have had 4 different names so far). I think it still has the wrong one on it. I have never seen a birth certificate or ss card. To top it off we call him a different name (similar to but different from his "real" name). Luckily, I haven't really had a problem with all the confusion yet.