When you have a baby

Know your rights and obligations

Parents and guardians have rights and obligations toward their child.

As parents, you must financially support your child, even if you do not have a relationship with the child. If the child does not live with you full-time, this means paying child support unless a court order says otherwise.

You also have a right to spend time with the child, known as parenting time, unless a court order says otherwise.

Only a child’s guardians can make major decisions for them. Usually a child’s guardians are their birth mother and biological father. But the court can change a child’s guardians, such as if the child is adopted or born via surrogacy.

Learn more about the roles of parents and guardians on the Being a parent or guardian page.

Name your child

You can name your child almost anything! But some names won’t work. The Government of Alberta can refuse to register a child’s name if it is confusing, embarrassing to another person, misleads or defrauds the public, or is offensive.

Your child’s name can be at least one first name, also known as their given name, and one last name, also known as their surname or family name.

You can also give your child only one name, known as a mononym, which can be more than one word. Famous examples of mononyms include Cher and Prince.

Both a first and last name can use:

• uppercase or lowercase letters from the 26-letter English or French alphabet
• Roman numerals like II, III, IV
• numbers spelled out, such as second or third
• a space to separate names, as in Leah Marie
• a hyphen to join names, as in Billy-Joe
• a single letter with a space or period following it

Your child’s name cannot include:

• pictograms, codes or hieroglyphics
• numbers as figures, like 4 or 9
• slashes, commas or hyphens to show there is a blank space between names

If parents cannot agree on a last name for their child, the government will register the child’s last name as the last names of each parent hyphenated in alphabetical order. For example, if the parents’ last names are Smith and Moh, the child’s last name will be Moh-Smith.

You can change a child’s name after you register it. If both parents agree on the name change, they can submit their request to Alberta’s Vital Statistics Office.

If the parents do not agree on the name change, one parent must get a court order to change the child’s name. This comes up when parents separate and one parent no longer has the same last name as their child. The parent requesting the name change must have a really good reason why they want to do so against the other parent’s wishes.

Register your child’s birth

Parents have up to one year from the child’s birth date to register the birth with the Government of Alberta. The law requires this. If you register the birth after the child turns one, you must submit more evidence and pay more fees.

To register the birth of a child:

• the parent(s) must enter the child’s birth information on the Online Birth Registry. Both the birth mother and biological father must certify the birth information is true.
• the hospital or registered midwife must send a confirmation of birth to Vital Statistics

When you are registering your child’s birth online, you can also:

• apply for Canada Child Benefits for your child
• apply for your child’s Social Insurance Number (read more below)
• order your child’s birth certificate

It usually takes about three weeks for the government to process the registration. It can take longer if you do not properly complete the registration process. Once the registration process is complete, the government will send you your child’s birth certificate.

You can also order a birth certificate at an Alberta registry for fee if you do not order it while registering their birth or if you need to get another one.

Find more instructions about registering a child’s birth, including who cannot use the Online Birth Registry, on the Government of Alberta’s website.

Apply for your child’s Social Insurance Number

Your child needs a Social Insurance Number, also known as a SIN, to get social benefits from the federal and provincial governments. Your child will also need a SIN when they eventually apply for a job and start to pay income tax.

One reason to get a SIN for your child right away is so you can set up a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) when your child is young and contribute to it throughout their youth.

You can apply for your child’s SIN at the same time as you register their birth online. You can also apply for your child’s SIN at any other time through the Government of Canada website. Once you apply, you can expect to receive the SIN card in the mail within 15 business days at no cost.

Apply for your child’s Alberta health care card

Your child needs their own Alberta health care card to receive health services through the Alberta Health Care Insurance Plan (AHCIP).

If your child is born in a hospital, the staff will give you a form to fill out to add your child to your Alberta health care account but with their own number and card. You can give the completed form back to the staff before you leave.

If you give birth at a birthing center, ask the staff if they have a copy of the form and if they submit it for you.

You can also access the form online yourself and submit by mail or in person at a registry.

Your child’s new Alberta Health Card will arrive in the mail a couple of weeks after you submit the form to the Government of Alberta.