US Laws, Codes, Statutes & Cases

                                  TITLE  18
                            CRIMES AND PUNISHMENTS
                                  CHAPTER 45
                                  KIDNAPING
    18-4510.  BIRTH RECORDS OF MISSING CHILDREN -- STATE REGISTRAR'S DUTIES.
1. Upon notification by a law enforcement agency that a child born in the
state is missing or has run away, the state registrar shall flag the child's
birth certificate record in such a manner that whenever a copy of the birth
certificate or information concerning the birth record is requested, the state
director shall be alerted to the fact that the certificate is that of a
missing or runaway child.
    2.  In response to any inquiry, the state registrar or any clerk appointed
by him or any employee of vital statistics shall not provide a copy of a birth
certificate or information concerning the birth record of any missing or
runaway child whose birth record has been flagged pursuant to this section,
and shall immediately notify the law enforcement agency having jurisdiction
over the investigation of the missing or runaway child.  Inquiries shall be
handled in the following manner:
    (a)  When a copy of the birth certificate of a missing or runaway child
    whose record has been flagged is requested in person, the employee
    receiving the request shall immediately notify his supervisor or the state
    registrar.  The person making the request shall complete a form supplying
    his name, address, telephone number and relationship to the missing or
    runaway child and the name, address and birth date of the missing or
    runaway child. The driver's license of the person making the request, if
    available, shall be photocopied and returned to him. He shall be informed
    that the birth certificate will be mailed to him when it is released. The
    employee shall note the physical description of the person making the
    request, and, upon that person's departure from the vital statistics
    office, the supervisor or state registrar shall immediately notify the law
    enforcement agency having jurisdiction of the request and provide it with
    the information obtained pursuant to subsection 2(a) of this section. The
    state registrar shall retain the form completed by the person making the
    request.
    (b)  When a copy of the birth certificate of a missing or runaway child
    whose birth record has been flagged is requested in writing, the state
    registrar shall immediately notify the law enforcement agency having
    jurisdiction of the request and shall provide a copy of the written
    request. The state registrar shall retain the original written request.
    3.  Upon notification by a law enforcement agency that a missing or
runaway child has been returned or when the child reaches his eighteenth
birthday, the state registrar shall remove the flag from the child's birth
record.