We have an update from our New York  Adoptee Rights Coalition partners who met with Tim Monti-Wohlpart from the American Adoption Congress and supervisors from the NYS DOH Pre-Adoption Birth Certificate Unit. We are sharing the updated information on Pre-Adoption Certificate Orders for NY STATE (does NOT include those born within the five boroughs of NYC). 

Updates are as follows:

New York State OBC Requests

The Pre-Adoption Birth Certificate Unit at the NYS Bureau of Vital records has been up and running for several weeks. Currently, they are experiencing significant delays in processing orders for Pre-Adoption Birth Certificates. At the direction of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s Executive Order 202, pertaining to the COVID-19 Public Health Emergency, offices are currently operating with reduced staff and resources. Due to the research needed to locate and fulfill an order, their limited staff is still working to process the remaining orders. Depending on volume of forthcoming inquiries received from the public, they are currently processing 200-300 orders per week. They have continued to process applications in the order in which they were received. We all appreciate everyone’s patience as the Bureau of Vital Records works to fulfill the high volume of requests for Pre-Adoption Birth Certificates.

Pre-Adoption Birth Certificate order statistics (as of 7/31/2020) are as follows:

Total Applications

• • • 9,752 Received
    • 6,294 Processed
    • 3,458 Remaining

Descendant Applications

• • • 341 Received (this number is reflected in the 9,752 above)
    • 200 Processed

General Processing Information

The majority of VitalChek and mail-in applications received during the month of January have been completed. Checks from mail in applications are receipted and cashed upon receipt, therefore; checks should not fall outside of the 6 month window allowed by the banks.

They are currently processing the requests that were received (both via mail and VitalChek) during the week of 2/10- 2/14. An attempt is made to prioritize the applications of senior citizens in each weekly batch. Please realize that there can always be delivery delays. If you mailed your application, it may take upwards of one week to be delivered.

Information for Those Born Outside of But Adopted Within NYS

The Bureau is continuing to work closely with OCFS to develop procedures for adoptees born outside of NYS but adopted within. Approximately 22 applications have been received and those people should expect a letter from the DOH in a month or so. If the state had the information it is required to provide, it will be sent to you. If the state did not have the information it is required to provide, they will be advising you of next steps (i.e. contacting OCFS, an agency or a court). No new application will be developed. Those who were born outside of but adopted within NY should fill out the Pre-Adoption Birth Certificate application found here: https://www.health.ny.gov/vital_records/preadoption.htm

Updated information on the Adoption Information Registry

The Adoption Information Registry (AIR) continued most operations throughout the mandated closure. As the Pre-Adoption Birth Certificate Unit encourages all applicants (including those born outside of but adopted within NYS) who have not previously registered with the AIR to return an application, there has been a significant increase to the volume of incoming applications to the AIR Unit. The AIR continues to work closely with the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, all New York State Courts, and the Majority of New York State Adoption Agencies. Although the NYS AIR is working diligently to process the significant volume of new applications, we are still experiencing delays in processing due to other offices and localities remaining closed or working with reduced staff.

Adoption Information Registry statistics as of 8/4/2020:

Since implementing the new legislation for Pre-Adoption Birth Certificates on 1/15/20, the AIR has registered an additional:

• 519 Adoptees (130 just within the month of July)
• 83 Birth Parents
• 50 Biological Siblings

The AIR now has approximately 51,000 registrants from its inception. The AIR has made approximately 3,000 matches between Adoptees, Birth Parents, and Siblings. If the Pre-Adoption Birth Certificate Unit finds an applicant is not registered with the AIR they hope to include an AIR application with your OBC.

New York CITY OBC Requests

NYC’s Department of Mental Health and Hygiene is also very backed up due to the early surge in COVID-19 during the early days of the pandemic. Updates are not as forthcoming, but we continue to caution all to be patient and continue waiting.

8-10-2020 UPDATE:  a NYARC supporter forwarded an email response from the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. She had been inquiring about the processing status of her application for weeks and had consistently received auto-replies. This time, she got a response with some information. The (unsigned) reply read as follows:

“When an adoption occurs the original record is placed in a sealed envelope and stored offsite.  When the Governor signed into law that pre-adoption records can be issued to customers, NYC began the following process, obtain the sealed envelope with the pre-adoption record from our offsite facility, open the sealed document, scan the pre-adoption record and the supporting documentation (Adoption Decree) to make it available electronically, and print on certified paper.  When we were given stay at home orders the process stopped.  We have not had staff return to the offsite facility to locate these envelopes due to the COVID-19 pandemic and social distancing rules policies implemented by the CDC and government officials.  The processing time for opening a sealed record and preparing for issuance is sixteen weeks.   I cannot provide a time frame as to when we will resume normal business functions at this time.  I understand that adoptees have waited many years to obtain their pre-adoption record, NYC apologizes for the interruption in services and appreciates your understanding during these challenging times.”

 

Notes from Our Partners at the NYARC

Please continue to be patient. Please do not resubmit applications or email the DOH for an update on the status of your application. With their limited staff; this will only take needed time away from the search to fulfill our applications. We need to all do our best not to bog the system down.

As always, we thank the state for keeping us updated. They love their job and are beyond thrilled that we have achieved equality. Every 6-8 weeks, we will be in touch with them for any new updates. We also thank Tim Monti-Wohlpart and the American Adoption Congress for always working in unison with us.