OMAHA, Neb (KMTV) — Jason Kilburn had tried everything to help his daughter Caroline.
"She is basically a ghost, it's like she doesn't exist."
Caroline was born in Council Bluffs, not in a hospital, was given up by her mother and moved to Nebraska.
Caroline had no social security number, valid birth certificate, nor even a real name. She was known in the system as Unakite Thirteen Hotel, a name generated by a computer.
After Caroline's father Jason found out about her birth he worked to prove his paternity and gain custody.
But the state had never gone through with getting Caroline the documentation she needed.
"I think she would have stood a better chance being born in another country. As far as getting a social security number. And thats ridiculous," said Jason Kilburn.
We brought you Caroline's story and brought Jason's concerns to DHHS officials who had told Jason and Caroline they considered the case closed. Officials with the Iowa Department of Vital Records called Caroline's attorney personally after seeing the story on national news and promised to help and now Caroline has finally been set up with a social security number but it came with a catch.
"Once that attention started the individuals and agencies that needed to step up really did," said Livingston.
Legally she is still named Unakite and she still needs a valid birth certificate before her father can legally change her name.
"The birth certificate, assuming the order gets entered by the court, we should have the order for the birth certificate then a birth certificate fairly soon thereafter," said Livingston.
While he is cautiously optimistic for the future Josh is concerned that without changes another child could go through what Caroline has had to.
He has done what he can to help her and now he is calling on DHHS to make sure something like this can't happen again.
"We need to make sure no child falls through the cracks and when they do we need that we have a system in place to fix that," said Livingston.
