Searching

I have a friend whose bio parents gave him to really close friends to raise. They moved to St. Croix from New York City when he was approx. 5 years old. He was legally adopted when he was 14 in St. Croix.
1. How were his adopted parents allow to adopt him? Did they need consent from his bio parents?
2. How can he get a copy of the original birth certificate in New York City? He use to have a copy but lost it. All his identification is in his adopted parents name. He wants the birth certificate that NYC use to give in the 1960's with the parents' name, address, occupation, # of siblings, hospital's name and doctor's name.

Tell your friend the best way to do it is to call the Vital Statistic's office in NY. He can request what ever they have copies of for usually less than $10. (At least that's what it was when I last used their services)

As far as the consent, if the bio parents "gave" the child to their friends, they probably gave concent. However, the amount of time between the giving of the child and the time of the final adoption seems a bit strange, it normally doesn't take that long. They may have gotten the adoption to go through by posting in the paper for the absent parents, kind of like they abandoned the child.

If your friend is looking to search for his biological parents, you may want to have him look at: [url]http://www.adoption.com[/url] It is a wealth of information regarding searching and giving tips to search.

If I can be of any other assistance, feel free to write back.

Good luck to you and your friend!
R