Proving your child’s birth or adoption

How to register a child’s birth

The hospital will give you a birth registration form after the birth of your child. You can use this form to register the birth of your child with your state or territory government. You can’t get Parental Leave Pay or the Newborn Supplement component of Family Tax Benefit Part A until you do this.

How to prove a child’s birth

After the birth of your child, your hospital or midwife will give you a Parent Pack. It includes a Newborn Child Declaration. A doctor or midwife must sign the Doctor/Midwife - Proof of Birth Declaration on the last page in the pack. Use this signed declaration to give us proof of your child’s birth.

Only one parent, either you or the other parent, needs to give proof of your child’s birth once.

You can use the signed declaration to do all of the following:

complete your claim for Family Tax Benefit or Parental Leave Pay
enrol your child for Medicare and the Medicare Safety Net
enrol your child in the Australian Immunisation Register.

You can also use the signed declaration to register your child for a My Health Record. Find out more about My Health Record on the Australian Digital Health Agency website.

If you lose your Newborn Child Declaration, it can’t be reissued. However, you can still claim the same payments and services by giving us either:

your child’s birth certificate or a certified extract
a letter from the doctor or midwife who attended the birth, including for home births.

If you choose to give us a letter from the doctor or midwife, it must be on hospital letterhead and include all of the following:

your child’s sex, date and place of birth
whether your child was part of a multiple birth
your name and date of birth
the doctor’s or midwife’s name, signature, qualifications and contact number.

You can also provide an Australian Government document that verifies your child’s name and date of birth, such as either a:

passport
naturalisation certificate.

How to prove a child’s adoption

When you adopt a child, you’ll get adoption papers to confirm the process has started. Use these papers to do all of the following:

give us proof of your child’s adoption
complete your claim for Family Tax Benefit or Parental Leave Pay
enrol your child for Medicare and the Medicare Safety Net
register your child for My Health Record
enrol your child on the Australian Immunisation Register.

Find out more about payments and services when adopting a child.

How to give us proof of a child’s birth or adoption to claim a payment

You can make a claim for Family Tax Benefit and Parental Leave Pay either before or after your child’s birth or adoption. In either case, you’ll need to submit proof of birth or adoption to finalise your claim.

Submit a claim before your child’s birth or adoption

You can start a claim before your child’s birth or adoption. You’ll then need to provide your child’s details to finalise your claim after your child’s birth or adoption.

If your Centrelink online account is linked to myGov, you can submit a claim online before your child’s birth or adoption.

To do this:

Sign in to myGov.
Select Add Newborn.
Answer all the questions and attach a scan or photo of your proof of birth or adoption. Proof of birth is the signed Doctor/Midwife - Proof of Birth Declaration from the back of your Newborn Child Declaration. If you adopted your child attach the adoption papers.

You can also use the Express Plus Centrelink mobile app and select Add Child.

If you can’t do this online, you can submit your proof of birth or adoption at a service centre.

Submit a claim after your child’s birth or adoption

After your child’s birth or adoption, you can submit the proof of birth or adoption with your online claim.

Your online claim will also:

enrol your child in Medicare
enrol your child for the Medicare Safety Net
register your child for a My Health Record.

If your Centrelink online account is linked to myGov, you can submit online the proof of birth or adoption.

To do this follow these steps:

Sign in to myGov.
Select Make a claim or view claim status, then select Make a claim.
Under Families, select Get started.
Select Apply for Family Assistance Payments (including Paid Parental Leave).
Answer all the questions and attach a scan or photo of your child’s proof of birth or adoption. Proof of birth is the signed Doctor/Midwife - Proof of Birth Declaration from the back of your Newborn Child Declaration. If you adopted your child attach the adoption papers.

If you can’t do this online, you can submit your proof of birth or adoption at a service centre.

Register a child for a My Health Record

Only the birth mother can register a newborn child for a My Health Record using the Newborn Child Declaration.

If you have parental responsibility, you can also register a child for a My Health Record.

How to give us proof if your baby is stillborn or died soon after birth

If your baby was stillborn or died soon after birth, also called neonatal death, you need to give us proof of your baby’s delivery. The doctor or midwife at the birth would’ve given you a Newborn Child Declaration or a Claim for Bereavement Payment form, which includes the Proof of Birth declaration. The doctor or midwife must complete this declaration.

If you can’t provide the declaration, you can give us a letter on hospital letterhead from the doctor or midwife who was at your baby’s birth. The letter must include all of the following:

mother’s full name and date of birth
baby’s date and place of birth
baby’s date of death
baby’s sex.

For stillbirths, the letter must also include both:

baby’s weight
baby’s gestation period.

Find out more about what stillborn means and deciding between Parental Leave Pay and Stillborn Baby Payment.

When you’re not claiming a payment

If you’re not claiming any payments, complete all pages of the Newborn Child Declaration to:

enrol your child in Medicare
enrol your child for the Medicare Safety Net
register your child for a My Health Record.

Submit your completed Newborn Child Declaration at a service centre or by post. The postal address is on the declaration form.