How to Fill Out California Form VS 22: Acknowledgement of Paternity/Parentage

California Form VS 22, the Application to Amend a Birth Record — Acknowledgement of Paternity/Parentage, is a two-page form you complete in three parts: information that locates the child’s existing birth record, the information that should appear on the new record, and signatures from both parents. You submit it to the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) with a copy of your supporting parentage document and the filing fee. Below is how to fill it out correctly the first time.

Before You Start: What You’ll Need

VS 22 only works if parentage has already been legally established. You must submit a copy of one of the following with the form:¹

A signed Voluntary Declaration of Parentage (form CS 909, sometimes called the POP form), witnessed at the hospital or notarized if signed later
A marriage certificate, if the parents married after the child’s birth
A Declaration of State Registered Domestic Partnership, if the parents registered after the birth

Pick up the blank VS 22 from your county’s Local Registrar of Births and Deaths.² Blank VDOP forms are free at local child support agency offices, registrar offices, family law facilitators at superior courts, and county welfare departments.

General Rules for Completing the Form

Print every entry clearly in black ink. Do not use correction fluid, cross anything out, or make erasures. A form with visible alterations will be rejected. Both parents must sign. Items 17 and 18 are reserved for the State Registrar and stay blank.

Before you write anything, put your supporting document next to the form. Names, dates, and spellings on VS 22 need to match that document exactly. A mismatch is one of the most common reasons for rejection or delay.

Part I: Information to Locate the Existing Record

Part I tells CDPH which birth certificate to pull. Fill in the child’s information as it appears on the current birth record:¹

Child’s first, middle, and last name
Sex
Date of birth
City and county of birth
Name of the hospital or birth facility

Then enter both parents’ full legal names (first, middle, and last at birth) along with each parent’s relationship to the child: mother, father, or parent. If only one parent is on the current certificate, put that parent’s information in the first parent block and leave the second block as the record currently stands.

The “birth” last name is the name given at birth or a name received through adoption, court-ordered name change, or naturalization. Nicknames and assumed names are not acceptable.

Part II: Information for the New Record

Part II is what the amended birth certificate will actually say. Enter the child’s name as you want it to appear going forward. It can stay the same or change to reflect the newly acknowledged parent’s surname.

For both parents, provide:¹

Full legal name (first, middle, last at birth)
Relationship designation (mother, father, or parent)
State or country of birth
Date of birth

Cross-check every field against the VDOP, marriage certificate, or domestic partnership declaration you are attaching.

Part III: Signatures

Both parents sign the form. Each signature certifies under penalty of perjury that the signer is a parent of the child and that all the information on the form is true and correct. Next to each signature, write the date signed and a full mailing address.¹

The Application Page

The second page is the application portion. Fill in:

The fee amount enclosed
Your printed name
Mailing address
Phone number and email

If you want additional certified copies of the new birth certificate beyond the one included with the filing fee, note how many and add the extra payment.

Fee and Where to Mail It

As of January 1, 2026, the fee for a parentage amendment is $26, which includes one certified copy of the new birth record. Each additional certified copy is $31.³ Make your check or money order payable to “CDPH – Vital Records.”

Mail the completed VS 22, a copy of your supporting document, and payment to:

California Department of Public Health
Vital Records – Amendments – MS 5105
P.O. Box 997410
Sacramento, CA 95899-7410¹

Send the package with tracking or delivery confirmation. Processing times vary with the department’s workload; check the CDPH Vital Records website for current estimates before mailing.

What Happens After You File

Once CDPH accepts and processes VS 22, the original birth record is sealed and a new birth certificate is prepared with the updated parentage information.¹ The supporting documents you submitted are sealed along with it and are not public; unsealing them requires a court order.

The new certificate does not show that an amendment happened. It reads as a standard birth certificate with both parents listed, which matters when the child later uses it for school enrollment, passports, or other identity verification. Your certified copy arrives by mail after processing is complete.

If the Other Parent Won’t Sign or Is Unavailable

VS 22 needs both parents’ signatures. If the other parent refuses, is unavailable, or has died, this form is not the right path. You will need to go to court and have a judge adjudicate parentage.⁴ CDPH publishes a separate pamphlet, “Adjudication of Facts of Parentage,” available from the Vital Records office, that walks through that process. After a court judgment is entered, the birth certificate can be amended based on the court order rather than a voluntary declaration.

1
California Department of Public Health. Application to Amend a Birth Record – Acknowledgement of Paternity/Parentage
2
Superior Court of California, County of Orange. Paternity
3
California Department of Public Health. Vital Records Fees
4
California Department of Public Health. Acknowledgement of Paternity/Parentage