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Birth Registrar Unit

Welcome to the Birth Registrar Unit at Boston Medical Center (BMC)! Our dedicated team is here to help you with the legal documentation for your newborn, ensuring a smooth and informed experience during this special time.

Contact Information and Hours

Our team is available during these hours to help with any questions or concerns you may have about the birth certificate process. We aim to provide support and clear guidance throughout the entire process, ensuring that your child’s legal documentation is completed correctly and in the shortest time possible.

Parent Forms for Certificate of Live Birth

When your child is born at Boston Medical Center, our birth registrar will give you a packet of forms asking for information about the child’s parents. Parents must fill out these forms to get a birth certificate (Certificate of Live Birth). Filling out these forms is an important step that is required by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts before a legal birth certificate can be issued.

To help simplify your time in the hospital, we encourage parents to download and complete these forms ahead of time, before your child’s birth. To submit the completed forms, please follow the instructions included on the first page.

Download the BMC Parent Forms in English (PDF)

Parent Forms: Translations

In support of BMC’s mission to provide support to all families, we are providing translations of the above document in the following languages:

Please note: these translated forms are for reference only (to help when filling out the English form), and they have a watermark that says this.

Additional Note

To help expedite the process, we encourage parents to complete the Parent Forms for Certificate of Live Birth as early as possible, ideally before admission.

The BMC Birth Registrar Unit can only keep forms on file for 30 days. If you do not complete the birth registration process within 30 days of your child’s birth, you may need to register the birth directly with the state (not through BMC), which can be inconvenient.

Birth Registration Process

  1. Completing the Process: New parents must review and sign the documents provided by the birth registrar during their stay at the hospital. Once these forms are completed, the birth registrar will submit the records to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and Boston City Hall for processing.
  2. Ordering a Certified Copy: Birth certificates must be ordered separately either in person, by mail, or online through the City of Boston Registry of Birth, Death, and Marriage. Birth certificates become available to order 10 days after the birth is filed with the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
  3. Social Security Card Application: You can apply for a Social Security card for your newborn during the birth certificate documentation process. If you opt to apply, the Social Security card will be mailed to your specified address and should arrive within six weeks.

Replacement Birth Certificates

If you need a replacement birth certificate for someone born at Boston Medical Center, please contact the City of Boston Registry of Birth, Death, and Marriage. It is important to note that birth certificates are not issued directly at Boston Medical Center.

Privacy

HIPAA privacy law ensures that you have a right to access your medical records and prohibits unauthorized use or disclosure of your medical information. For more information on your privacy rights, please reach out to the please reach out to the Privacy Office at privacyofficer@bmc.org or 617.638.7919 for any concerns, including:

  • Break-the-glass requests, which add an extra layer of protection to your electronic medical records; and
  • Audit requests to audit for unauthorized access to your medical records.