DawnM Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 I need a birth certificate copy for my son. We can't locate the copy we had. Would it be better to request it through the county or the state? (it is Los Angeles County if it matters.) UGH. Short of hopping on a plane, I am subjected to the slowness of ordering by mail. Dawn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MyThreeSons Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 In CA, birth certificates are issued by the county. My boys were born in northern CA, and I have ordered replacement "orginal" (certified) birth certificates for at least two of them since we moved here. I was able to do it online. The fee for expediting the process wasn't bad at all, and I did get the one very quickly when I did that. Start by googling birth certificate and the name of the county. Good luck! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OhanaBee Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 I've had to request a few birth certificate copies from LA County and have done it on line, with them mailing it directly to me. It's cheaper than buying a plane ticket and I do think you can request it overnight [or maybe it's 2-day] for an extra fee Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted May 12, 2015 Author Share Posted May 12, 2015 I've had to request a few birth certificate copies from LA County and have done it on line, with them mailing it directly to me. It's cheaper than buying a plane ticket and I do think you can request it overnight [or maybe it's 2-day] for an extra fee I didn't see a place to do it 2 day, I saw expedited, which is still a 10 day turn around plus mail service time Do you have a link to something faster? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted May 12, 2015 Author Share Posted May 12, 2015 In CA, birth certificates are issued by the county. My boys were born in northern CA, and I have ordered replacement "orginal" (certified) birth certificates for at least two of them since we moved here. I was able to do it online. The fee for expediting the process wasn't bad at all, and I did get the one very quickly when I did that. Start by googling birth certificate and the name of the county. Good luck! I do see a place to order from the state (Sacramento.) Online applications still require a motorized copy and scanning. It has changed since the last time I ordered a birth certificate a few years ago! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gardenmom5 Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 in WA, it depends if you want a short form (county) or the long form (state). both are certified. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 When I googled for this, this is one of the first URLs in the SERPS: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/dca/dcabirth.htm I suggest you call or email the office in Norwalk. GL Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J-rap Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Just a suggestion... When we did that, it was just a little more to order two. So, we ordered two, one for my son to keep and one for me. I can't believe the number of times he has had to show his birth certificate over the years! 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
happypamama Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 In MD, we were able to go to any county's department of health, pay, and have one printed right there. (PA sends you the birth certificate right after the birth is registered, for free, and you can request replacements online , I think; MD merely registers the birth and sends you a notification of that, but you have to pay and request an actual cert. We didn't have one for DS1 until he was almost two, and only then because we needed a new copy of DH's so he could get a new social security card because his had been lost. Since they were both born in MD, and we had just moved back to PA, we ran down to MD one day to get DH's and figured we'd go ahead and get DS1's at the same time.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted May 12, 2015 Author Share Posted May 12, 2015 When I googled for this, this is one of the first URLs in the SERPS: http://publichealth.lacounty.gov/dca/dcabirth.htm I suggest you call or email the office in Norwalk. GL I did. They said I need to go through VitalChek.com and it is a 10 day min. wait. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted May 12, 2015 Author Share Posted May 12, 2015 In MD, we were able to go to any county's department of health, pay, and have one printed right there. (PA sends you the birth certificate right after the birth is registered, for free, and you can request replacements online , I think; MD merely registers the birth and sends you a notification of that, but you have to pay and request an actual cert. We didn't have one for DS1 until he was almost two, and only then because we needed a new copy of DH's so he could get a new social security card because his had been lost. Since they were both born in MD, and we had just moved back to PA, we ran down to MD one day to get DH's and figured we'd go ahead and get DS1's at the same time.) Right, but I live in NC and they were born in CA. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Just a suggestion... When we did that, it was just a little more to order two. So, we ordered two, one for my son to keep and one for me. I can't believe the number of times he has had to show his birth certificate over the years! This is what we did too. We ordered each child a copy for when they move out and one for us to keep. Each time I have needed the official copy, it has caught me off guard and I was happy to have it on hand. I thought it would be nice for them to have one so they don't have to figure out a way to get it from me and visa versa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DawnM Posted May 12, 2015 Author Share Posted May 12, 2015 We are ordering two. One has to go off to the passport agency (they rejected our last one) and is ordered expedited. The other will stay with us as we may not get the passport one back soon enough so we need to get a state issued ID. UGH. Dawn 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomtoCandJ Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Crap that reminds me that I need to order/pick up dd2's. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Vital statistics is where we have always gotten ours. Borough by borough (or county by county, in another state). We have always had to wait anywhere from 3-6 weeks. They can expedite them for a fee in two weeks, but it's dodgy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wapiti Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 There are websites that perform this service for a small fee. We used a web service years ago, more than once - let me see if I can find the name... begins with a V. I'm pretty sure it's this one https://www.vitalchek.com/birth-certificates. It's not hard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lanny Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 I did. They said I need to go through VitalChek.com and it is a 10 day min. wait. EEK.... Here in Colombia birth certificates and many other things (real estate transactions, etc.) are done by a Notary Public. Nothing like a Notary Public in the USA. Since DD is a minor, we needed a new (certified) copy of her birth certificate issued within 90 days for her application for a new Colombian Passport. I was lucky. I went in there and walked out of there about 20 minutes later with the new copy. You might be at the same disadvantage even if you were in the L.A. area, trying to get this. A PITA.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Artichoke Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Just a suggestion... When we did that, it was just a little more to order two. So, we ordered two, one for my son to keep and one for me. I can't believe the number of times he has had to show his birth certificate over the years!. This is such a great idea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
idnib Posted May 12, 2015 Share Posted May 12, 2015 Yeah, it's not going to happen that fast. Do you know anyone in LA County who can head over there and then overnight it to you? Or maybe that's what those services do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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