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I have written to NYC at the email address listed on the website. I will also try to call them in the morning. Happy to report back here any info I receive.
Looking at the website, it doesn't look too promising:
Quote:
Vital record and photograph copy requests fulfilled on-line only; mail-order and hard copy requests temporarily suspended.
Since OBCs are mail-order only (no online) it seems that the process remains suspended. Also, for the office address it states:
Quote:
Due to the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), this location is closed until further notice.
It would seem that "Vital Records" are not that vital at all. Maybe things would be easier if NYC wasn't some small backwoods town and got into the new millennium by actually putting these things online.
This is great. There is no reason an adopted person cannot see their own birth certificate.
There are plenty of reasons...
1. Antiquated systems that can only fulfill requests by mail (not online).
2. A slow and lazy bureaucracy that can not (or will not) process requests in a timely manner (if at all)
3. Coronavirus (as a lame excuse)
There is a large bridge to cross between being legally allowed to get an OBC and a broken government actually sending you one.
Cost is the same $15 plus an $8.50 VitalChek fee. Placing the order you should receive an email confirmation. I'm going to call my bank to cancel my Jan 15 check and place an order online. Knowing for a fact that my records have not been digitized and are in a box buried in a Brooklyn warehouse, I'm still skeptical of receiving anything by the end of 2020. At least I'll get confirmation that the request was received.
EDITED TO ADD:
I received an email response to my NYC order status request. This is from NYC DoH:
Quote:
We are pleased to announce that we have resumed processing requests for pre-adoption birth certificates. The processing was suspended because of COVID-19 and the need to limit the number of people gathered in one place. We are currently processing mailed and online orders for February. Please note that pre-adoption records take longer to process because they are sealed records that must be retrieved offsite and are not available electronically. We recognize that persons who were adopted have waited many years to obtain their pre-adoption record and are working to process your request. We appreciate your understanding and patience as we work to complete your order during these challenging times. Note: If your submission included a personal check, we recognize that it may be stale dated. Can you advise if your bank will honor the check?
I already did the online order, so I guess that puts me at the back of the line. However, if they are now processing February orders, my mid-January order is probably lost anyway.
Thanks for posting the above-- before I saw it I was trying to find some clues as to what's happened with the processing through various NY adoptee sources with no luck. I mailed my NYC application in January, so maybe it's already in process if they are now doing February?
Thanks for posting the above-- before I saw it I was trying to find some clues as to what's happened with the processing through various NY adoptee sources with no luck. I mailed my NYC application in January, so maybe it's already in process if they are now doing February?
From their email responses to me, I have the impression that nothing was done prior the the covid closures. Looks like the basically sat on things for two months.
Quote:
"The processing time for pre-adoption records is 14-16 weeks. Unfortunately when the Health Crisis began we had not reached these requests for processing. "
My request was sent on January 15. Realistically, that's getting delivered by January 17. If my form wasn't lost, they are claiming that they did not reach it prior to mid-March when things shut down. One can almost interpret from the above quote that it takes them 14-16 weeks just to open the envelope and deposit the check.
I had some further back and forth with them via email. I wasn't happy that I was among the first to send my info, but am now at the end of the line since I had to re-submit via the online process. They did ask me for my online order number. In doing so the response was:
Quote:
"Thank you, I have asked the department obtaining the sealed documents to add yours to the current list. Please allow the time needed for processing 12-16 weeks."
I don't know if that means I have moved up in the line. At least they acknowledge receipt of my request. Odd that completed the application and paying the fee didn't add me to the "current list."
If you sent in an application prior to covid, I suggest you write them to ask the status. You should also check to see if your bank will still honor the check. If not, have them find your application and see how to arrange for payment.
I am totally ticked off at the process. It is the high level of incompetence I have come to expect from NYC. At the same time, the people at the email address DO respond and attempt to help. It's worth the email to find out what's going on.
From their email responses to me, I have the impression that nothing was done prior the the covid closures. Looks like the basically sat on things for two months.
My request was sent on January 15. Realistically, that's getting delivered by January 17. If my form wasn't lost, they are claiming that they did not reach it prior to mid-March when things shut down. One can almost interpret from the above quote that it takes them 14-16 weeks just to open the envelope and deposit the check.
I had some further back and forth with them via email. I wasn't happy that I was among the first to send my info, but am now at the end of the line since I had to re-submit via the online process. They did ask me for my online order number. In doing so the response was:
I don't know if that means I have moved up in the line. At least they acknowledge receipt of my request. Odd that completed the application and paying the fee didn't add me to the "current list."
If you sent in an application prior to covid, I suggest you write them to ask the status. You should also check to see if your bank will still honor the check. If not, have them find your application and see how to arrange for payment.
I am totally ticked off at the process. It is the high level of incompetence I have come to expect from NYC. At the same time, the people at the email address DO respond and attempt to help. It's worth the email to find out what's going on.
What effers they are! Thanks so much for posting to let others know all of that info! I was hoping someone was posting to say they got their documents. Unacceptable!
You never know what someones' situation might be, my adoptive parents told me they never knew anything about my birth parents, zip, nothing, it had me wondering from age 13 in the 70s to 3 years ago if maybe they were hiding something, like my birth mom was a rape victim, retarded, a prostitute, I had zero info to go on, not even a first name.
After finding mom thru ancestry I learned all the history and that my imagination was totally wrong, I also learned father was still alive and that they never married but kept up a 60 year friendship!
Mom turned out fantastic, father denied everything, would not budge, claimed I was a scammer, he didnt trust DNA and bla bla bla, in fact my appearing on scene caused their 60 year friendship to disolve because mom said he has changed for the worse and is no longer the sweet nice man she knew, he was lying to her, kept her and I a secret from his family, and then actively did everything he could to stop family members of his from communicating with me!
He went so far as to call my mom to tell her to "tell him" (me) to stop contacting "his" family or he would get out a "dossier" he claimed a friend in homeland security compiled on me LOL!!!! I sent him an email after that and told him he was full of bull, that I have nothing in MY background any fake "homeland security" friend would dig up, that I dont even have an arrest record, been at the same job here 22 years, own my home outright, that I passed a police background check for a concealed carry permit, and so on.
He shut up after that, and even tried to fool me with a FAKE "bounce, recipient unknown" on a return email OMG it was hilarious!
I taught internet, networking and computers, I know what a real bounced/failed email looks like and could tell he copy/pasted my message in a new email, changed the subject line and wrote in the first line "Bounced mail, recipient unknown" but the headers showed his email address and that it came from him LOL!
One family member stopped talking to me on facebook, my half brother will not talk to me as he doesnt want father's "wrath", a cousin called and said she wanted to be anon and no one to know she called, my brother's daughter- (my niece) was warned by my father and her father to not talk to me, but she did anyway and now we have a great friendship but secret from her father and grandfather.
I actually wound up locating my father's EX wife, mother of my brother, figuring she wouldn't be on father's "camp" and might talk to me, I was right, and she was so sweet on the phone and invited me to call again, she's admonished her son- my brother for his actions, she had given my niece my contact info, so she knew she would contact me of course.
It's been interesting that's for sure.
Your experience demonstrates some of the downsides.
I am processing your application and unfortunately since our office was closed for so long due to the pandemic, the check we have here is now expired.
This is my paperwork sent on January 15, over nine months ago. In August I had an email exchange with that department where they asked if the bank would still honor my check. Since online applications were open, I went that route. They asked for my order number, implying that my paperwork would not end up on the bottom of the pile. I guess they don't talk to each other in that department.
I'm just wondering if the 12-16 weeks starts now that they are working on it. Or maybe since they can't process my January application, I now have to wait until they get to the August online submission.
At least I'm one step closer.
Has anyone here received any information from NYC (or an actual OBC)? Anyone have their check cashed or application acknowledged?
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