Due to the onslaught of requests from underage adopted people wanting access online to copies of their OBC's (original birth certificates), the Bureau of Vital Statistics has been forced to restrict access to their online birth certificate archives.For entry to their database, below, you must now certify that you are over the age of 18 under penalty of perjury. This page contains a java age detector to make sure that you are 18 or over. It takes the personal information you entered in your preferences and compares it against a government-held database.
Sorry, as you probably noted at in the top stripe of your screen, this page is a joke.
The lessons here, if any, are-
• There is not one single "golden key" online that is going to wrap up your search. Most completed searches are the result of following many avenues.
• Search usually requires work both online and offline.
• Even with a name, many searches are not completed.
• Don't waste time looking for quick tricks. Understand that search takes time, and resolve now that you will make that time to follow the leads you have, contact your agency and/or attorney, and the county court where the adoption was finalized, usually the county orphan's court where the adoptive parents lived when they got the adopted child. If you do not know which county this is, you can get it by writing to the Bureau of Vital Records. Birthparents need to provide as much info as possible and state that they wish to file a waiver there, while adoptees need to give all known info and state that they wish to ask for non-id or search at that court.
• Work the Pennsylvania Adoption Search Menu if you are searching in PA.
• If you are angry about having to search or not having a real birth certificate, why not tell the people who can change it? Check out PA Senate Bill 859 to learn what may be coming to PA, and what needs to be changed in this legislation. Stop complaining and make a difference!