Under section 216(h)(3) of the Act, the biological child of a number holder may be deemed to be the number holder’s child if, during the number holder’s lifetime, the number holder acknowledged in writing that the child was his or her child. See 42 U.S.C. § 416(h)(3)(A)(i)(I), (B)(i)(I), (C)(i)(I); 20 C.F.R. § 404.355(a)(3); POMS GN 00306.100, GN 00306.105.

POMS GN 00306.105C provides a list of evidence that the agency will consider to be evidence of the number holder’s written acknowledgment of a child for purposes of section 216(h)(3), and this list includes a child’s full birth certificate and the EAB Numident, where certain criteria are met. See POMS GN 00306.105C.2, 3.  

POMS GN 00306.105C.2 regarding the birth certificate refers the agency to POMS GN 00306.120 for the policy on using information from a child’s birth certificate as evidence of a written acknowledgment. POMS GN 00306.120 instructs that the agency may use a birth certificate to presume that there has been a written acknowledgment or court determination of paternity for purposes of section 216(h)(3) if a precedent opinion shows that applicable State law requires the written acknowledgment or court determination of paternity^[2] in order for a father’s name to be listed on a non-marital child’s birth certificate. POMS GN 00306.120B.2.^[3]  

POMS GN 00306.105C.3 instructs that the child’s EAB Numident record constitutes evidence of written acknowledgment for purposes of section 216(h)(3) when the following criteria are met:  

The [child’s] Numident constitutes evidence of written acknowledgment if it:

• •

  includes an iteration that shows a “6” in the form code (FMC) field of the INTERNAL line, indicating an Enumeration at Birth (EAB) record;

• •

  ·shows the NH’s name in the mother’s name at birth (MNA) or father’s name at birth (FNA) field of the EAB Numident, setting aside minor discrepancies as described in GN 00203.020A.2.C;

• •

  does not show a name other than the NH’s name in the same field (MNA or FNA) in iterations following EAB; and

• •

  the NH’s written consent was required by the State during the EAB process. Contact the State Bureau of Vital Statistics (BVS) or use a relevant precedent opinion to determine if written consent was required.

POMS GN 00306.105C.3.  

With regard to the final criteria of whether the number holder’s written consent was required by the State during the EAB process, the same information collected by a State’s vital statistics office for the State-issued birth certificate, which would include the names of the child’s parents, is also transmitted to SSA as part of the EAB process.^[4] See POMS RM 10205.001B, RM 10205.005B, RM 10205.505.  

Thus, in this opinion, for policy set forth in POMS GN 00306.105C.2, 3 and POMS GN 00306.120B.2 relating to use of the EAB Numident and birth certificate as evidence of a number holder’s written acknowledgment for 216(h)(3) child status, we will set forth Louisiana law on whether a father’s written acknowledgment is required to identify the father of a non-marital child on the child’s birth certificate. As noted above, the same information collected by the State’s vital statistics office for the State-issued birth certificate, which would include any father’s name, is also transmitted to SSA as part of the EAB process. See POMS RM 10205.001B, RM 10205.005B, RM 10205.505.  

The Louisiana statutory provisions concerning the contents of the birth certificate, which are currently found at La. Rev. Stat. Ann. §§ 40:34.1 – 40:34.9, were previously set forth in La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 40:34.^[5] These statutory provisions address when a father’s full name should be included on a child’s Louisiana birth certificate. From 1997 until 2007, Louisiana statutory law at La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 40:34(B)(1)(h)(ii) instructed that the full name of a father would be included on a non-marital child’s birth certificate only if a court had issued an adjudication of paternity.^[6] Beginning in 2008, the Louisiana Legislature amended the law to provide that a father’s full name would be listed on a non-marital child’s birth certificate if there was a written acknowledgment of paternity.^[7] Specifically, from August 2008 and through July 2016, Louisiana statutory law instructed: “If a child is born outside of marriage, the full name of the father shall be included on the record of birth of the child only if the father and mother have signed a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity or a court of competent jurisdiction has issued an adjudication of paternity.” La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 40:34(B)(1)(h)(ii) (effective August 15, 2008, to July 31, 2016). With further amendments, from August 2016 to the present, Louisiana statutory law instructs: “If the child is born to a mother who neither is married nor was married within three hundred days prior to the birth of the child, the full name of the father who has acknowledged his child by authentic act shall be included on the birth record of the child, but only if the father and mother agree.” See La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 40:34.5(B) (effective August 1, 2016, to present); see also La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 40:34.13 (all acknowledgments of paternity properly executed in Louisiana and adjudications of paternity by a Louisiana court shall be filed with the state registrar, office of vital records); La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 40:46.12 (establishing a hospital-based voluntary acknowledgment program; requiring the signatures of the two parents and the signature of the notary who authenticates their signatures; the hospital forwards completed acknowledgments to the state registrar); La. Civ. Code Ann. art. 196 (providing that a man may, by authentic act, acknowledge a child not filiated to another man; this acknowledgment creates a presumption that the man who acknowledges the child is the father); La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 9:392 (requirements and content of an acknowledgment of paternity). Thus, since 2008, Louisiana law has provided that the full name of a father will be listed on a non-marital child’s birth certificate if there is a written acknowledgment of paternity.  

Consistent with the law, Louisiana’s State Registrar & Vital Records Office provides paternity information and the “Acknowledgment of Paternity Affidavit, Child Born Outside of Marriage” form (VRR-44 2-P (06-24)) on the Louisiana Department of Health’s website. See Paternity Information | La Dept. of Health (last visited Jan. 23, 2025). The State website instructs: “Acknowledgment of Paternity Affidavits executed in the hospital at the time of birth are submitted to the Vital Records Registry with the birth record by hospital staff…. Your child’s birth certificate will reflect the name and paternity information shown on the Affidavit…. This Acknowledgment of Paternity Affidavit [for a child born outside of marriage] is used to add the biological father to a child’s birth certificate if the mother was not married at the time of birth or within 300 days of the birth.” Id.  

In summary, in applying agency policy set forth in POMS GN 00306.105C.2, 3 and POMS GN 00306.120B.2 relating to use of the EAB Numident and birth certificate as evidence of written acknowledgment for 216(h)(3) child status, with changes in Louisiana law in effect beginning in August 2008, where a father is named on a non-marital child’s Louisiana birth certificate, the agency may presume that the father completed a written acknowledgment of paternity. See La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 40:34.5(B) (effective August 1, 2016, to present) (requiring a written acknowledgment); La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 40:34(B)(1)(h)(ii) (effective August 15, 2008, to July 31, 2016) (requiring a written acknowledgment or court adjudication of paternity).  

You asked in particular whether this NH, who died on April XX, 2024, had to provide written consent to be named as the Claimant’s father on her Louisiana birth certificate where the Claimant was born on December XX, 2021, and her mother was not married to the NH (or to anyone else). You provided the Claimant’s EAB Numident record listing the NH as her father as evidence of his written consent. As detailed above, since August 2008, Louisiana law has required a father’s written acknowledgment (or a court adjudication of paternity) to be identified as the father of a non-marital child on the birth certificate. The same information collected by the State’s vital statistics office for the State-issued birth certificate, which would include the father’s name, is also transmitted to SSA as part of the EAB process. See POMS RM 10205.001B, RM 10205.005B, RM 10205.505. This Claimant’s EAB Numident is dated February 22, 2022 and: shows a “6” in the FMC field of the INTERNAL line indicating it is an EAB record; shows the NH’s name in the FNA field; and does not show a name other than the NH’s in the same FNA field in iterations following EAB. See POMS GN 00306.105C.3. Accordingly, because the Claimant’s EAB Numident names the deceased NH as her father, there is support for the agency to find that the Claimant’s EAB Numident is evidence of the NH’s written acknowledgment for purposes of deeming the Claimant to be the NH’s child^[8] under section 216(h)(3) for Title II benefits.^[9] See La. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 40:34.5(B) (effective August 1, 2016, to present) (for a child born outside of marriage, “the full name of the father who has acknowledged his child by authentic act shall be included on the birth record of the child, but only if the father and mother agree”).