State department to request more resources to find adoptee’s original birth certificates

Department of Health and Senior Services officials said they will be asking the state for additional resources to help address the significant number of requests for original birth certificates from adoptees across the state.

In 2016, former Gov. Jay Nixon signed a bill that would allow adoptees born before 1941 to request a copy of their original birth certificate. In January, anyone over 18 could request the information.

ABC 17 News reported in May that many adoptees had not received their original birth certificates

The department has gotten more than 2,000 requests, and many remain incomplete. In May, a spokesperson for the department told ABC 17 News that it was not given additional staff to work on the requests so existing staff had to add the requests to its workload. According to the department, the process is “time-consuming and difficult.”

Now, the department said it will be asking legislators for more resources.

“The department must request additional funding and staffing through the state budget process, which is approved by the governor and General Assembly,” said Megan Hopkins, the department’s chief of public information.

State budget chair Scott Fitzpatrick told ABC 17 News that the department has several options to get the resources it needs.

The department could seek a supplemental appropriation for additional staff, which would likely be passed and become effective in April, 2019 Wait until fiscal year 2020 to request additional staff Reassign a few of their thousands of employees to fulfill the needs of those seeking original birth certificates

Fitzpatrick said the governor could call a special session in September “if they felt it was important for us to pass an appropriation for that prior to next session.”

Staff also requests a $15 non-refundable check to “offset the costs incurred to research and issue the original record.”

Adoptees will likely not receive their $15 back, even if no record could be found.

Hopkins said there were a number of reason why someone’s original, pre-adoptive birth certificate can’t be found:

The individual may not have provided sufficient information to correctly identify the record. In this instance, DHSS staff will work with the individual to gather as much additional information as possible to aid in the search for records, but the search is not always successful. There may never have been an official birth certificate prior to adoption recorded. The adoption may not have occurred in Missouri.

If the state cannot find the original birth certificate, staff will send a letter to the person requesting it.

Hopkins said if there has been an error and someone has paid twice for a record, the department would work with the individual to issue a refund.