Preparing for Milano

Also have several documents going back to my mother’s home state of Michigan. She needs to have here birth cert amended to change some of the names. They misspelled my grandmother’s maiden name, the anglicized my grandfather’s name, and they left off mom’s middle name. I don’t know if these things will be changed or not, since it is difficult to do this, but again it would make the process easier, but allowing the Consulate here to see a continuity in the names through all the documents. They seem to be aware that foreign names were often Americanized in the early part of the century and will sometimes let it slide. My grandmother, born Giovanna, morphed into Jennie, and then later on to Joanne. Andrea changed to Andrew then Henry. Anna became Anita and so on. Hopefully these things will not hinder too much if Michigan will not change them, but it would be easier if they would. 

Right now I am waiting on word from the Superior court if they will accept my petition for a certified copy of the original birth certificate. This is a month’s long process, but they should be close to getting the thing from Sacramento, and once that happens, then the judge looks at my case and decides. Based on the fact that I already know everything I need to about my birth family, and there is nothing to hide anymore, no privacy that needs to be maintained, AND I have shown need for a certified copy of the original, I think I should get it. But again one never knows. 

Please pray that this judge, who doesn’t know me or my situation and who won’t hear from me personally, will look with favor on my request and grant it. 

Obtaining this is really just one step in collecting all the documents needed for the trail from the Italian citizen Andrea Anselmo, to this guy named Dave Walston. 

The means is called “jure sanguinis” meaning blood right. Because Italian law is that if you are born to at least one Italian citizen, then citizenship passes to the child as well. And my grandfather did not become a naturalized until after my mom was born. That means that mom is an Italian citizen, even if Italy doesn’t know it yet. Likewise it was transferred to me at birth…. even if Italy doesn’t know it yet. The procedure is relatively straightforward then- document the trail from Italy to you through birth and marriage certificates. The hitch in my case is that I was adopted OUT of the Italian family and that I now have a different legal name. So I need to get access to my original birth certificate showing my birth mother and the link to me, I need to get the adoption decree and the certificate of adoption. 

And then I have to hope that the Italian consulate here in LA accepts the extra step and doesn’t exclude me legally from any claim to the original Italian family. Since citizenship is conferred legally at birth, I don’t think I should have a problem, but you never know.