A two-year-old girl from Nebraska was legally named Unakite Thirteen Hotel by a random word generator while in foster care and her baffled father is begging for the state’s help to change the unwieldy moniker.
The perplexing backstory behind the one-of-a-kind name began when baby girl was born inside a home in Council Bluffs, Iowa and was somehow transferred to state custody without a birth certificate or Social Security number (SSN).
When Unakite – who now goes by Caroline – was born, her mother and her father, Jason Kilburn of Omaha, had been broken up.
In fact, Kilburn told WGAL there was even a chance that Caroline was not his child.
Caroline’s birth mother soon lost custody of her because the Douglas County Attorney’s Office accused her of doing drugs while pregnant and neglecting her daughter, KBTX reported.
‘It kills me that I wasn’t able to be there when she was born because it wouldn’t have happened like it did,’ Kilburn solemnly said to WOWT.
The child was taken into foster care and brought to a Nebraska hospital near her foster mother’s residence.
Kilburn told WGAL that when his daughter was technically issued a birth certificate during this hospital visit. However, it just has her mother’s last name and says ‘for government use only’ on it.
Nebraska’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) then gave the toddler her unorthodox computer-generated name, Kilburn and his attorney Josh Livingston said.
Livingston explained to WGAL: ‘When she was brought to Nebraska, she was in the juvenile court in Nebraska in the foster care system.
‘They petitioned the court while she was in their custody for an order so that they could obtain a SSN. They gave her a legal name. That legal name was Unakite Thirteen Hotel.’
Kilburn was able to prove his paternity and after spending about a year in foster care, Caroline was finally able to go home with her dad.
But his grueling legal battle on behalf of Caroline- who is still Unakite in the eyes of the state – is far from over.
‘I’m worried that this child fell between the cracks,’ Livingston told WOWT.
‘And I’m worried that when it became apparent that this child fell through the cracks, nobody…with any authority did anything to fix it.’
When the state agreed to give him custody, they failed to present Caroline’s birth certificate or SSN, posing far greater issues than not being able to change her name.
‘I can’t get medical insurance on her. I can’t claim her on my taxes I can’t even sign her up for daycare because they want a Social Security number too for insurance purposes,’ Kilburn said to 3NewsNow.
The only way to get to the bottom of Caroline’s mysterious circumstances is to reopen her DHHS case – but the state cannot do that without any identification.
Livingston does believe that DHHS asked the federal court for a SSN, but Kilburn never received it.
‘So obviously, Social Security number is a federal issue. But when DHHS filed that motion with the court to obtain the Social Security number, they certainly put a duty on themselves to follow through with that,’ the attorney told WGAL.
DHHS officials told Livingston they reached out to an Iowa agency that provided insight on how Kilburn could get Caroline a birth certificate.
‘Under the Child Protection and Family Safety Act, specific information related to children in the custody of DHHS or who were in the past is confidential. DHHS is working with Mr. Livingston to resolve this issue,’ DHHS wrote to WGAL.
‘Each state is responsible for all vital events that happen within the state including births and deaths as well as the registration of the event, the certificate, and any amendments or corrections needed.’
Livingston and Kilburn believe the answer to their Unakite-Caroline dilemma lies in legislation proposed by Senator Megan Hunt.
LB368 aims to establish the Nebraska Youth in Care Bill of Rights, which essentially outlines the protections the state’s children should be entitled to.
Hunt reacted to Caroline’s situation, telling WOWT: ‘This situation is absolutely unacceptable and highlights a critical failure in our system.
‘No child should be left without a legal identity, especially after being in state custody.
‘This is exactly the kind of bureaucratic negligence that LB368 aims to prevent by ensuring foster youth have access to essential documents like birth certificates and Social Security numbers before they transition out of state care – among many other rights.’