A Lifetime Original Podcast

Original Podcast.

We don't usually get to start our episodes on such a happy note, but today, we do.

It's 2004 and Nedja, Nettie for short, Nance, is pregnant with her first child.

And she's so excited to be a new mom.

Yeah, and she's doing everything she can to prepare. She's living with her mom in Connecticut at the time in a not so great neighborhood and like most mothers she wants the best for her baby.

She's young she's only 17 years old so Nettie qualifies for state services and she's eager to get them.

Prenatal care is huge for an expecting mother.

Nettie's mom promises to help her gather the documents she needs to apply for the services,

but she never gets around to it.

So, Nettie digs through some files and grabs her birth certificate before heading to the state

office to claim her benefits.

When she hands her documents over to the state clerk, something is off.

The clerk passes back her birth certificate and tells her she can't accept it.

As far as Nettie knows, she's done everything right. She has all the documents they

need and she's not about to leave without her benefits so she

demands to see a supervisor and when she does she's hit with a startling reality

the supervisor tells Nettie that she can't find her birth certificate in their records anywhere.

And if she insists on using it to get state benefits, she could be arrested for assuming a false identity.

There must be some mistake.

They have to be wrong about this.

Because if this isn't her birth certificate,

...