About registering an unassisted childbirth

How to register a home birth without running into administrative issues

When a baby is born, it is essential that the child be registered as a new citizen in the civil registry of the country to which they belong. This will allow the child to “exist” in the legal sense throughout their life and thus enjoy the same rights as all other citizens of their country: obtaining an ID card, a passport, etc.

The legal framework in France

In France, the birth must be registered at the town hall of the municipality where the birth took place, within five days of the delivery. According to the law, “The birth of the child shall be registered by the father, or in the absence of the father, by physicians, surgeons, midwives, public health officers, and other persons who attended the delivery. (…) The birth certificate shall be drawn up immediately.” See the service-public.fr website. The law dates back to 1803, a time when home births and births without medical assistance were commonplace.

In practice, most births take place in hospitals or clinics in major cities, and the registration is then carried out—usually by the father—at the town hall of the city where the hospital is located, upon presentation of a medical certificate.

However, we must not forget that less than a century ago, home births without medical assistance were common, particularly in small, remote villages. Any town hall is authorized to register a new citizen in the civil registry. This is a procedure provided for by the system and by law.

A few high-profile cases to put into perspective

But in practice, we have recently seen a few cases that received media attention due to obstacles at this stage. I will cite in particular the case of Noémie and Raphaël, who in June 2022 had their two daughters—aged seven days and three months—taken away from them for two weeks, allegedly on suspicion of “child abuse” (!!!), following the unassisted birth of their second daughter.

France’s First Lady, Brigitte Macron, later apologized to the couple, as social services had abused their power and failed to uphold the presumption of innocence, which is a fundamental human right.

Another similar case is that of Timothée’s mother, where the town hall refused to register the baby born at home without medical assistance. This was professional misconduct, and it took a judge’s ruling for the child to finally be registered four months after birth.

These blunders should not scare us. In every instance, they ultimately turned in favor of the parents, who had chosen to give birth at home without assistance and were fully within their rights to do so.

Acting with flexibility and intelligence to preserve the serenity of the birth

From my perspective, when choosing Unassisted Childbirth—which we prefer to call Autonomous Natural Childbirth—it is essential to stay focused on what matters most: the natural and peaceful progression of the birth. It is a challenge in itself to navigate the birth of your child alone or as a couple. Therefore, we must not unnecessarily add further constraints.

However, once born, the child must be registered, and the deadlines are short in France. It is important to know that, after the birth, any licensed midwife or any doctor—even a general practitioner—can visit the home where the birth took place at the parents’ request. They are then authorized to issue a medical certificate that can be submitted to the town hall. This medical intermediary is not strictly mandatory, but it is very reassuring for government officials. It is true that the father can write the declaration himself, but this will likely raise far more doubts with the town hall clerk than if a properly issued medical certificate is presented. So, in practice, if you know a midwife or family doctor with whom you have a good relationship, the simplest thing to do is to ask them to come to your home on the day of the birth or the next day to provide you with the birth certificate. If you don’t know anyone, simply call a local general practitioner. Everywhere, there are doctors who make house calls for sick patients, and these visits are covered—albeit very modestly—by public health insurance.

My personal experience in Aubigné-sur-Layon

Personally, I gave birth to four of my children in the privacy of my own home in the village of Aubigné-sur-Layon, a rural community of five hundred residents.

For the first of these births—my third child—we had met a homeopathic midwife with whom we had attended a few prenatal classes. She had performed home births in the past but no longer wished to do so to protect her privacy. However, she agreed to come to our home for postpartum care. She was the one who drafted the birth certificate, which we then submitted to the town hall. The clerk, taken aback at first, responded by saying that births in the town were common in the past, back when women still frequently gave birth at home. She registered the child without issue in the civil registry. The midwife emphasized that it was essential to state on the certificate that the child was born ALIVE…

For the birth of our fourth child, we asked a homeopathic doctor we knew to come to our home. He was the one who wrote the birth certificate, which we then submitted to the town hall.

For the birth of our fifth child, it was the summer vacation. The town hall clerk, who was on leave, had prepared all the paperwork in advance so that the process would be simple for her replacement. We hadn’t asked her for anything, but she knew I was pregnant and suspected that the birth would also take place at our home. After the birth, we looked in the Yellow Pages for the contact information of a general practitioner willing to make house calls. It was vacation time for everyone, and it wasn’t easy. Some doctors asked us to come to their office for the baby’s checkups, but we weren’t willing to accept that. After five or six phone calls, we managed to find a doctor who came to our home. We asked him to fill out the paperwork without touching the baby so as not to disturb him. That’s the advantage of being at home. We’re at home, and we’re the ones who decide.

At the hospital, it’s the exact opposite—we realized that after the birth of our first child, who was born in the car in Montpellier on the way to the clinic. There, we weren’t at home. So we had no say, nothing to decide, and nothing to ask for.

For the birth of our sixth child, the town hall clerk told us during the pregnancy that she could come to our home herself to certify the birth afterward. That’s what we did. It was simple and easy…

In conclusion, what matters most is first and foremost the birth itself and its smooth progression, in a serene and peaceful atmosphere…. Then the baby’s welcome and their adjustment to their new life, and the mother’s recovery from the effort…. Finally, of course, the registration of the new citizen’s birth in the civil registry…. Whatever your situation, do your best to ensure that things proceed peacefully…. I have given birth on four continents, and everywhere we tried to make arrangements to preserve our peace of mind without causing too much alarm among those around us….

This article was written by Claire Loiseleur who is mother of eleven children all born in conjugal intimacy by choosing to offer our babies a birth with all the respect and love they deserve and co-author of the book:

Tout en musique et en couleurs, avec beaucoup de légendes et d’explications en voix off, le DVD VIVRE NATURELLEMENT ET PAISIBLEMENT LA NAISSANCE complète merveilleusement bien les enseignements du livre L’ACCOUCHEMENT NATUREL AUTONOME VÉCU EN COUPLE. Il est offert sous forme d’un lien de téléchargement de la vidéo à toute personne ayant acheté le livre.

Read other articles on respected childbirth :

The book AUTONOMOUS NATURAL CHILDBIRTH AS A COUPLE is part of the Lights for a New World books presented on the Youtube channel and Facebook page entitled : Lights for a New World

The expression « Lights for a New World » is explained on the following page :