When your baby arrives

Register the birth of your baby as soon as possible. If you don’t, we may not be able to pay you.

Get your Parent Pack

You’ll get a Parent Pack from your hospital or midwife. It contains a Newborn Child Declaration. Make sure your doctor or midwife completes the Proof of Birth declaration on the back page.

If you have a Centrelink Customer Reference Number and Medicare card, include these numbers on the back page.

Keep in mind, this isn’t a claim form to get payments. We need the back page as proof of birth to finalise your pre-birth claim. We’ll also need this when you make a new claim for:

• Family Tax Benefit, including Newborn Upfront Payment and Newborn Supplement
• Parental Leave Pay.

If you lose your Newborn Child Declaration, it can’t be reissued. You can still give us proof of birth with either:

• a birth certificate or certified extract
• another Australian Government document that verifies the child’s name and date of birth, such as a passport or naturalisation certificate.

You can also give us proof of birth with a letter from the doctor or midwife who attended the birth. This includes home births. The letter must include all of the following:

• the parents' details
• your child’s name, date and place of birth
• the doctor or midwife’s signature, qualifications and registration number.