This Is Why The Plathville Kids Didn't Have Birth Certificates
The Plaths, stars of TLC's Welcome to Plathville, aren't your average family, that much is clear. From living without modern technology to being home-schooled, foregoing Coke and spending plenty of time in the prayer closet, this lot are a law unto themselves. The first season of the surprise hit show exhibited an idyllic lifestyle where everybody followed the strict rules enforced by parents Barry and Kim and seemed reasonably happy to do so. With season 2, everything changed.
The family fractured into three separate entities as the Plath parents struggled to keep everybody together. The first episode ended with them being confronted by teens Micah and Moriah, who demanded to know why Barry and Kim hadn't better prepared them for the real world. As the kids pointed out, they didn't even have their high school diplomas. However, thanks to some recent revelations, it turns out they weren't the only prerequisites for the real world the Plathville kids were left without.
Did the Plaths' parents want to keep them under the radar?
According to Daily Soap Dish, up until very recently only the two eldest Plath children, Ethan and Hosanna, who doesn't appear on the show, had state-issued birth certificates. The seven other kids were delivered at home with the assistance of a midwife but didn't have the documentation to show for it. Licensed midwives typically complete such documents, which makes it even stranger that they didn't have them. Without the required paperwork you can't drive, work, or vote legally, which meant that when the show came along, Barry and Kim were forced to acquire it. In 2017, the Plath parents got the children formally recognized by the state so everybody could legally appear on Welcome to Plathville while, presumably, being paid for it.
Online scuttlebutt suggests this is yet another instrument of control. Funnily enough, the parents being forced to get birth certificates likely emboldened Micah and Moriah to finally leave the nest and become self-sufficient. However, there also could be a darker element at play, as certain religious fundamentalist groups purposely don't document their kids to keep the state away from them while also ensuring they can't leave. Blogger Katie Joy, of Without a Crystal Ball, advised that as per official records from Georgia, where the Plaths are based, only Ethan and Hosanna had birth certificates prior to 2017. Their parents had to petition the court to get them for the other kids and, thankfully, everything worked out in the end.