Re-registering a child's birth

Your child’s birth needs to be re-registered if:

• you wish to add the natural father’s details (as long as the original birth registration does not include any father’s details and the child’s natural parents have not married or formed a civil partnership since the birth)
• the natural parents have married or formed a civil partnership with each other since the birth

Re-registering the birth of a child born to two female parents requires authorisation from the General Register Office. Please contact us for further information.

Advice and application forms for the following:

• Adding the natural father's details (where the parents are not married or in a civil partnership with each other) 
• If the parents have married or formed a civil partnership since registering the birth

You can also contact us to obtain a paper copy of either of the above forms.

There are two stages to the process of re-registering a birth:

1. Complete the relevant form, sign it and post it to the Oxfordshire register office where you wish to have your appointment along with original copies of any relevant documents (e.g. birth certificate, marriage or civil partnership certificate). Please include your contact telephone number and email address. Alternatively, if you do not wish to post your form and documents, contact us to book a short appointment to bring them to your nearest register office, where the registrar can copy and certify any original documents and return them to you.
2. Once the registrar has cross-checked the details on the form with the original birth registration in our archives, we will contact you to let you know that you can book an appointment to re-register the birth. If you are re-registering the birth to add the natural father’s details, both parents must attend the appointment. If you are re-registering the birth following marriage or civil partnership, only one parent needs to attend. Updated copies of your child’s birth certificate showing the new information can be issued at this appointment.

If your child was not born in Oxfordshire, please contact the relevant registration district.

In certain circumstances, it is also possible for either parent to make a statutory declaration before a solicitor or other person able legally to witness an oath, acknowledging parentage of the child. It is also possible for either parent to seek a court order naming the father. Please contact us for further information.

Changing a child’s surname

If the parents were not married to, or in a civil partnership with, each other at the time of the birth and it was decided to give the child the father's surname, whether or not he attended with the mother, it is not possible to change the surname in the registration back to that of the mother.

The only alternative will be to consult a solicitor and make a statutory declaration or deed poll changing the surname of the child.

This will not change the original birth registration. The statutory declaration or deed poll document should be attached to the birth certificate and this will provide evidence that the child is being brought up in a surname different to that recorded in the birth registration.

Correcting an error in a birth registration

Every birth registration is an historic record of the event. However, if a mistake was made on the original record, it may be possible to get it changed. Documentary evidence to show the correct information may be required.

A fee will apply to have the birth entry corrected.

See GOV.UK for detailed advice and application forms.