Two Revised Applications

Minnesota Department of Health sent this bulletin at 10/08/2018 01:22 PM CDT
minnesota department of health

INSTRUCTIONS FOR COUNTY VITAL RECORDS OFFICES

What is different about the new Birth Certificate Application?

The new Birth Certificate Application is for ALL requests for certified copies of birth certificates.

There are now 24 items in the tangible interest section. The top six items, in order, are now:

  1. A parent named on the subject’s record
  2. A grandparent of the subject
  3. A great-grandparent of the subject
  4. A child of the subject
  5. A grandchild of the subject
  6. A great-grandchild of the subject

The item that read “The Minnesota Department of Human Services, under certain circumstances” on the earlier Birth Certificate Application now reads “Representatives of Minnesota programs that administer child support, medical assistance, MinnesotaCare, and services under Minnesota Statutes, sections 124D.23 and 626.556. (Employee ID is required)”

Minnesota Department of Human Services (DHS) and Child Support Agency (CSA) requesters must use the new Birth Certificate Application to request certified copies of birth certificates.

What is different about the Noncertified Birth Record Application?

Because we made changes to the Birth Certificate Application, we also updated the Noncertified Birth Record Application (NBRA). The NBRA is now accessible and carries the current Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) logo. The language in the tangible interest section is similar to that in the Birth Certificate Application.

Representatives of Minnesota programs that administer child support, medical assistance, MinnesotaCare, and services under Minnesota Statutes, sections 124D.23 and 626.556 must use the current Noncertified Birth Record Application.

What do you need to do now?

If your county wants to customize the new birth certificate application, see the three Word documents attached to this email:

a. bcappiacs1 – one-page application with requester’s signature line on same page – for use at the counter
b. bcappiacs2 – two-page application with requester’s signature line and notary info on first page and payment and processing information on page two
c. bcappiacs3 – two-page application with requester’s signature line and notary info on page two along with the payment and processing information

See the areas highlighted in yellow on the documents attached – enter your county information.

You may make changes to the “Signature and Notary” and the “How do you want to pay?” sections of the application. You may add or change information about processing and delivery options your county offers.

Do not make changes to items 1-24 in the tangible interest section. We want customers to see the same tangible interest items no matter what Minnesota county or Minnesota vital records website they visit.

  1. If your county webpage links to the Birth Certificate Application on OVR’s Birth Certificates webpage, you need to be aware of the changes noted above in “What is different about the new Birth Certificate Application?” 
  2. If your office made copies of the old birth certificate application dated 12/2017 (or anything with an earlier date), those copies are out of date. Make copies of the new application dated rev 2/16/18. We want customers to see the same tangible interest items no matter what Minnesota county or Minnesota vital records website they visit.
    Since Molly Crawford has been State Registrar, our understanding and interpretation of tangible interest has changed. Old birth certificate applications with old MDH logos and dated before 2/16/18 have old interpretations of tangible interest.
  3. Destroy any copies of the Minnesota Birth Record Application for Representatives of the Minnesota Department of Human Services your county has. Do not use the old application. Take it out of circulation. We have removed it from County Vital Record Office Forms.
  4. If your county wants to customize the Noncertified Birth Record Application, see the attached Word document ncbirthiacs.docx. Destroy any copies of the old Noncertified Birth Record Transcript Application that have old MDH logos and dates before 10/2018.

Vital Records News subscribers from DHS and CSAs will receive a GovDelivery email with this information.

Background

Back on January 4, 2018, the Office of Vital Records (OVR) released a new version of the Birth Certificate Application for statewide public use. Within a short time, we received feedback from requesters and county vital records offices about items in the tangible interest section.

Around the same time, we were preparing to send the Birth Certificate Application for translation into Hmong, Spanish, Somali and Karen. Not wanting to translate a document with shortcomings, we made changes to the document we sent for translation. We asked speakers of Hmong, Spanish, Somali and Karen to review the translations we received. Finally, on September 5, 2018, we posted the new English version of the application form and the translated versions on the Office of Vital Records Birth Certificates webpage.

 

If you have questions or comments, email me at kirsti.taipale@state.mn.us.