Do you have your original birth certificate?

This article from The Atlantic Magazine, by Christine Ro, discusses the development of birth registration and birth certificates. The birth certificate is your "first possession".

A Birth Certificate is a Person’s First Possession: Around the world, the document establishes legal, social, and economic legitimacy. But it also makes compromises.

A recent controversy over birth certificates in Arkansas demonstrates that these slips of paper are imbued with political and social meaning. In 2015, a married couple, Marisa and Terrah Pavan, had their first child, who was conceived through sperm donation. The Arkansas Department of Health, or ADH, listed only Terrah, who gave birth to their daughter, on the baby’s birth certificate. This was contrary to state law, under which the spouse of the birth mother also is automatically listed.