A new UNICEF study shows widespread negligence in parents when registering their children at birth. Lack of legal identity is a major problem in the Dominican Republic, where the poor too frequently postpone registering their children. Thousands of children then have difficulties in getting on with their own lives, especially when wanting to continue with high school education.
The sad part of all this is that birth registration can easily be carried out at public hospitals where most children are born in the Dominican Republic. The government gives 30 days for the child to be registered by the father. Afterwards, extensive paperwork is required.
UNICEF representative in the country, Maria Jesus Conde Sabala says that of 80,094 births last year in public health hospitals, only 32,468 children were registered. She said 59% of the parents leave the hospital without bothering to register their children. In Greater Santo Domingo, of 29,566 births, only 11,209 were reported at birth to the civil registry offices set up by the Central Electoral Board (JCE) at the public hospitals.
The study carried out by UNICEF also determined that of the de 80,094 children born in 2012, 11,468 were identified as born to foreign mothers, of which only 1,460, or 13%, were registered in the Foreigners Book (Libro de Extranjeria) available at the JCE offices in the hospitals. This registration is necessary for the children to later obtain legal status in the country and is a requirement of many foreign countries for granting of citizenship.
JCE records show that during 2012 there were 184,019 birth declarations overall. Of these, 65,000 were late declarations, including 6,567 that were issued for children of foreign mothers that were not residents in the country. This includes 6,421 babies born to Haitian mothers, or 97.78%. Other nationalities were US (29), Venezuela (13), Spain (10), Colombia (8) and France (7).
The president of the JCE, Roberto Rosario urged public hospital doctors to encourage their patients to register their children at birth.
http://www.elnacional.com.do/nacional/2013/7/11/165609/