Domestic partnerships have been legal in Oregon for less than three weeks—and people are already running into problems with the separate institution. In the paper this week, I wrote about Sally Sparks and Heather Dugas, who registered as domestic partners the first day they could, and welcomed their new son six days later—then promptly ran into problems over the birth certificate.

Domestic partnerships were widely expected to automatically grant parental rights to the non-biological parent. As Sparks and Dugas unfortunately found out, the state’s Department of Human Services—specifically the state registrar in the Center for Health Statistics—hadn’t gotten its act together yet, even though the law was signed last May. There was no spot for Heather’s name on the birth certificate form; Instead, she was given an “informational” piece of paper to fill out, to be filed next to her son’s birth certificate, which would only carry Sparks name for now.

“We’re kind of in a holding pattern right now,” says Sparks. “We’re waiting to see if we should contact our lawyer, [we’re waiting to see] whether or not Heather’s name will appear on the birth certificate. It’s really frustrating. It means that Heather has no parental rights.”

The state registrar, Jennifer Woodward, is awaiting an opinion from the state Department of Justice on whether—and how—to record domestic partners on birth certificates. Originally I was told the parties would be meeting “later this week” to discuss the issue, but I’m now hearing there might be clarity on the issue as soon as today—though it’s unclear which way the DOJ’s opinion will go. According to Woodward, the issue is this: “There was not any clear guidance in the law on how we’re supposed to handle adding partners to birth certificates. The law does not clearly state that state registrars need to add partners to the birth certificate.”