Identifiscation: the process of government-sanctionedconfiscation and obfuscation, or erasure, of all or partof one’s natural identity without the person’s informed consentMost people assume that birth certificates are straightforward documents outlining the truth about a person’s origins and birth. What Penny Zagarelou-Mackieson deftly reveals is the minefield of issues around birth certificates, with political interests usurping truth.Everyone agrees that a birth certificate is an important legal document of universal concern as it is a person’s primary means of identification throughout their entire life, with intergenerational significance for the identities of their children. But for those who are adopted, donor-conceived, or born of surrogacy, birth certificates are not statements of truth but a means of deception, designed to keep secrets and hide a child’s origins: identifiscation.Penny outlines the history of birth certificates since their introduction in 1838 and shows how truth has often played second fiddle to invested interests. In recent times, this has only increased as in surrogacy arrangements, a new practice promoting secrecy is in place, denying the biological and genetic origins of a child, including the erasure of birth mothers.Birth certificates are being falsified when governments recognise so-called ‘transition’ through self-ID and a change of gender identity. Rather than documents of truth, Penny shows that birth certificates are widely malleable, often denying a person knowing the truth about their natural family and even the identity of the mother who gave birth to them.This book is a crucial read for people genuinely concerned about human rights and identity, and for those who believe we all have the right to know the truth, not lies, about ourselves.