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Public Health Law § 4131 · Title 3. Registration of Births

Births; registration; foundlings

Verbatim from the official edition

Text — Law content up to date as of October 9, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)

§ 4131. Births; registration; foundlings. 1. The report of the finding of a child whose parents are unknown, filed by the commissioner of social services or by the city social services officer in accordance with the provisions of subdivision two of section three hundred ninety-eight of the social services law, shall constitute the birth record of such child.

2. The district wherein such child was found shall be considered as the place of birth, and the date of birth shall be that determined by the commissioner of social services or by the city social services officer as the approximate date of birth.

3. If, however, such child be subsequently identified, and it should appear that a certificate of birth for this child has either before or following identification been filed, as otherwise provided in this article, the report of the commissioner of social services or of the city social services officer shall be placed under seal by the state commissioner of health, such seal not to be broken except upon order of a court of competent jurisdiction.

Source of truth

Edition
Law content up to date as of October 9, 2026, as published by the New York State Senate (Open Legislation)
Official file
https://legislation.nysenate.gov/pdf/laws/PBH4131
Text hash
sha256 d54caf1211526894d4abf0eff91456ceefffe5e99cfef4605678e35d7d0d8e5a
Composed by
gen_ny_statutes.py 2026-11-10: the Senate's Open Legislation law tree (GET /api/3/laws/<ID>?full=true) read in document order; the Senate's PDF of the whole law (GET /pdf/laws/<ID>?full=true), read with PDFium, prints the same words in the same order

Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.