A London family is still awaiting answers as to who is responsible for defacing their baby daughter’s birth certificate.
In February, the Jewish family (whose last name has been withheld) received their 5-month-old’s birth certificate in the mail from the UK Passport Office. On it, Israel (the birthplace of her father) had been crossed out with a pen, making the document invalid. Her mother’s place of birth, also Israel, was left untouched.
“This person has destroyed my child’s identity, their birth certificate, just because it’s a Jewish person,” said the baby’s father, who in addition to being born in Israel is also named Israel.
A recent letter from parliamentarian Tom Pursglove, the minister of state for legal migration and delivery, to Sir Michael Ellis, the former attorney general, revealed that Jo Rowland, the director general of the Passport Office, had directly apologized to Israel and his wife, Dorin.
While the contractors working for the Passport Office have been suspended, the investigation remains ongoing.
“‘I continue to take this incident extremely seriously and, while I cannot preempt the outcome of the investigation, my officials are in no doubt of the need to ensure that such an issue must not be repeated in the future,” Pursglove wrote. “Please be assured that the appropriate action is being taken.”
