NEW YORK - A new law took effect this year allowing adopted adults access to their original pre-adoption birth certificates for the first time.

Some, like Patricia Wilson, say after filing requests in January and February, they are still waiting for their record.

“I said, ‘Wow, I want to get this last piece of information, I want that connection to my biological mother,’ so I submitted the form,” Wilson said.

Wilson was adopted by a New York City couple when she was two months old. She describes her childhood in Queens as picture-perfect.

At six-years-old, she learned she was adopted. She waited until her father passed away in 1997 to begin searching for her biological parents. After piecing together information from the adoption agency, social media, and DNA test, she discovered her biological father was a sailor in World War II and obtained photos of him.

Wilson doesn’t have a photo of her birth mom, who was a 38-year-old nurse when Wilson was born.

When Wilson learned about a new state law that gives an adoptee access to their original birth certificate, Wilson thought it would offer a feeling of connection to her birth mother.

“Because it is kind of the only tangible piece from when I was with her,” Wilson said.

She filed her request in February and is still waiting for her original pre-adoption birth certificate.

State Assemblyman David Weprin sponsored the birth certificate access law. He says the delay Wilson and other adoptees are encountering is unacceptable.

“I understand the department of health is on the front lines of the pandemic and have been, but I think they have to look at the birth certificate as a very serious issue,” Weprin said.

The city department of health says it has received 5,425 requests for pre-adoption birth certificates.

As of last week, roughly a quarter had been processed.

Efforts were halted for three months because of COVID. The work resumed in July. Now, staff is growing from three to five to help expedite the processing of the sealed records that are stored offsite.

“For myself, I can wait but there are other people out there who might still have a connection and [could be] making a contact with a living biological parents and it is for those people that time is of the essence,” Wilson said.

The department says it is currently processing requests that were filed in February and March; oldest requests will be processed first.

Assemblyman Weprin says anyone who is having particular difficulty accessing their pre adoption birth certificate can contact his office.