Newborn's Birth Certificate Lost in the Mail; Mother Worries About ID Theft

A mother panicked about her newborn son’s identity being stolen when his birth certificate was lost in the mail.

Tamara Baker of Upper Marlboro, Maryland, is a privacy expert, so she knows what can happen if someone gets a hold of a birth certificate.

“His identity was going to be stolen,” she said.

Baker ordered her son’s birth certificate online from VitalChek and was told it would arrive in two days.

“So then I gave it a couple of days because I saw the tracking and I saw that it said it was out for delivery so I said, OK, I know sometimes things can happen, maybe it will come tomorrow. Tomorrow came and it never showed,” Baker said.

She checked the tracking status again.

“The tracking went from 'out for delivery’ to 'no information available,’" she said.

She said she immediately contacted UPS.

“So UPS said contact VitalChek. VitalChek said contact UPS,” Baker said.

Baker said VitalChek told her they couldn't reissue a new birth certificate.

Her mother told her to contact NBC4 Responds, which contacted UPS and VitalChek.

“Suddenly my phone was off the hook,” Baker said. “They kept ringing, everybody wanted to figure out how can we help you?”

In a statement, VitalChek said they issued Baker a refund and sent another birth certificate for free.

UPS eventually tracked down the original package. They said it got caught in a conveyor belt and was badly damaged, so they shredded it.