"How Do I Get Their Death Certificate?" Maricopa County Vital Statistics

One of the questions that I am most frequently asked by loved ones and family members of the deceased is, "How Do I Get Their Death Certificate?"

 In the State of Arizona, you must be a direct relative of the deceased and may be asked to provide the reason for the request. You do have to provide proof of your relationship to the deceased. You also have to prove your identity by including a copy of your Driver License or State ID.  For more information about relationship requirements and proof documents accepted, visit the following link for a brochure that includes all the detailed information about obtaining a death certificate in Arizona.

Brochure Explaining Eligibility & Proof Document Requirements

for a Death Certificate Request 

http://www.maricopa.gov/publichealth/Programs/Vitals/pdf/forms/howtoapplydeath.pdf

There are multiple methods for obtaining a copy of a loved ones death certificate. 

I know that many of the White Tanks Families live out of the state of Arizona.  It is not a problem that you do not live in Arizona. The Maricopa County Vital Statistics Registrar Website has everything that you need to apply for a death certificate on their website. It can be done right from the comfort of your own home (if you have a printer/copier/scanner).

You can apply via application by mail using the following link to obtain an application form to fill out and mail in with copies of your proof documents.

Direct Link to the Mail-In Application for a Maricopa County Death Certificate

http://www.maricopa.gov/publichealth/Programs/Vitals/pdf/forms/deathmail.pdf

• If you live in the State of Arizona, you can walk into any Vital Statistics Office to request a copy of the death certificate. Make sure that you take the required documents necessary to prove your identity and the relationship to the deceased.  The hours for the Vital Statics Offices is 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.  Their phone number is 602-506-6805.  You can also contact them online with questions or comments at the following website address: http://www.maricopa.gov/publichealth/contact.aspx
• The following are office locations you can visit to apply and pick up a copy: 
• Central Phoenix Office, 3221 N 16th St Ste 100 Phoenix AZ 85016
• West Valley Office, 3003 W Thomas Rd Ste 200B Phoenix AZ 85017
• East Valley Office 4419 E Main St Ste 105  Mesa AZ 85205

• You may apply online for the death certificate using the approved online method provided by VitalChek. This website is very easy to use and walks you through the process one step at a time. Have your ID available and payment information (like a debit or credit card). -- Visit their website at www.vitalchek.com 

The cost for a certified death certificate copy is $20.00.  Forms of Payment that                       are accepted include the following: • Visa or MasterCard, • Money Order •                                Cashier’s Check • Cash (in person ONLY)

I have personally already been through the process of applying for (requesting) my mother's death certificate. I was denied the first time and had to reapply. The reason for denial was because the information on the death certificate did not match the information that I put on the application. If you find yourself in the predicament, please contact me or read the blog posting for requesting changes for incorrect information on a death certificate.   White Tanks Angels Foundation will assist the families in walking through the process of requesting a death certificate, requesting changes to be made or correcting documents. If you have questions or need help, please send an email to WhiteTanksAngels@gmail.com  or cleaning44870@gmail.com  SUBJECT LINE: Death Certificate Help

References for this blog posting--

Maricopa County Vital Statistics Office of Registration

Main Page: http://www.maricopa.gov/publichealth/programs/vitals/

Information about How to Obtain A Certified Copy of a Death Certificate

http://www.maricopa.gov/publichealth/programs/vitals/death.aspx

Application for Requesting Changes on a Death Certificate

http://www.maricopa.gov/publichealth/Programs/Vitals/pdf/forms/affcodeath.pdf

Introducing White Tanks Angels To Funeral Homes

The following is a letter that I am sending out to introduce our organization and services to all of the funeral homes in the surrounding areas of Maricopa County, Arizona.  Would love to hear your thoughts! Please feel free to leave me your comments.

White Tanks Angels Foundation

Miranda Rhuda, Founder

415 Dewey Street

Sandusky, OH 44870

December 7, 2013

ATTN:  Funeral Home Management, Owner and Staff

Hello, my name is Miranda Rhuda.  I am writing this letter to you with the intention of introducing myself and my organization to you. It is my hope that we may be able to build a working relationship between us to better serve the indigents that end up buried at White Tanks Cemetery or other county cemeteries for indigents.

I started this organization in an effort to help close the gap in the system for finding next of kin for those who have none listed elsewhere.  A 15-year search for my mother ended in 2009 when I found out that she had passed in 2007 and was buried at White Tanks Cemetery.  I struggled to understand and work through the process of indigent burials.  I spoke with the public fiduciary and the funeral home that cared for her, but still found no reasonable explanation as to why I was not notified about her passing.  I was told that it is not the funeral home’s responsibility to find next of kin, but the Public Fiduciary’s job.  In my 15 year search for my mother, I had posted on over 1000 websites that I was searching for her; all of the postings included her full name, date of birth, middle initial, my name and where we were from, as well as where I thought she may be (Phoenix).  A simple Google search would have turned up next of kin for her, but a search was never done.  The pain that I experienced in knowing that my mother had not only died alone, but was also buried and put to rest alone, buried by a chain gang was beyond explanation.  I truly struggled to understand the whole thing.  I posted on blog sites about my experience and before I knew it there were other families who poured out their hearts to me about their same experiences with their loved ones.  Once I realized that it was not an isolated case (with my mother) but that it was happening, quite frequently, for many individuals, I set out to try and make a change.  I have been contacted by more than 30 families who have discovered their loved ones buried at White Tanks, who have said they would have more than graciously accepted the responsibility of laying their loved ones to rest.

I have gone over the options for trying to remedy this situation in my mind many times since 2009.  The final conclusion that I felt would be the best and the fastest was for me to start an organization where I can try to close the loophole in the failure to search for next of kin.  I am offering to provide my own personal search services (acquired through 10 years of missing persons advocacy) free of charge to the funeral homes and/or fiduciary to find next of kin for those who have none listed.  Many of these indigents are homeless, addicts or mentally ill who have become estranged from their families by their own free will—not by the families doing.  If I fail to locate a loved one alive for a family, the least that I can do is to provide them with the opportunity to give proper goodbyes to their loved one at their time of death.

In addition to finding next of kin, our organization also offers free services to families who live in distant locations and cannot visit nor tend to their loved ones grave site at White Tanks Cemetery.  We have several members who volunteer to go out a number of times per week to visit, place flowers and take pictures to send to the family- in an effort to offer some comfort and closure.

It is my hope that you will embrace our organization and choose to use us as an ally in offering families the same closure and comfort as those who are not indigent. For the quickest and most ideal search for next of kin, obviously, as much information as possible is desired.  Having a full name, date of birth and birth location is ideal for easier tracking of family members. However, we have many memberships for various people search sites including world membership to ancestry.com which provides extensive information in collective databases. I really hope to get as much cooperation from as many funeral homes as possible- in an effort at providing the closure needed to families in search of their loved ones.

Without communicating with the funeral homes, we have currently been researching the newspaper obituaries for listings that request more information on the deceased.  The problem with this method is that we are only working to inform families of their loved ones passing and burial.  We would like to get ahead of the burials, by receiving immediate notices from the funeral homes and work to find next of kin who can choose the method of burial for their loved ones, saving money for the tax payers of Maricopa County and healing families all over the country.

If you are contacted by a family, who lives out of state, requesting information on their loved ones plot at White Tanks, please feel free to refer them to our organization so that we may offer our free visitation services to them.  We also assist families in navigating through the confirmation of identity, death certificate and paperwork process for the deceased.

If you would like to speak more about this- the fastest and easiest reply method would be to e-mail me at WhiteTanksAngels@gmail.com  Please feel free to also write me via US Postal Mail or call me at 419-602-7147.  If I do not answer, please leave a message and I will get back to you ASAP.

God Bless you for your services,

Miranda N. Rhuda,  Founder

White Tanks Angels Foundation

In the letter I have included the following insert:

To Begin Participating in Our Services Immediately:

You may send e-mail listings for your indigent cases (with no next of kin) to WhiteTanksAngels@gmail.com               SUBJECT LINE:  Indigent Search Requests

Please include as much information as possible about the Deceased:

a.      Full Name of the Deceased

b.      Date of Birth

c.      Location of Birth

d.      Any known relatives

e.      Any known previous addresses

f.       Place and date of death

g.      Place and date of burial

Compiling a Resource Guide for the White Tanks Angels Foundation

I am going to begin the project of building a quick reference resource guide for our White Tanks Indigents Project.  I need all the help that I can get building this resource guide.  

To any of my friends from Arizona, if you could please give me as many names as possible of Newspapers, Funeral Homes and News Networks or Online Publications, I would really appreciate it. I will be doing the online research for it, but I want to make sure that I do not miss any and need to know from those who live there which publications are most common and what resources are most commonly used.

This resource guide project will include the following:

• Newspapers: So that I can look up the obituaries and find the indigent listings that ask for more information. Also for contact purposes if we need to propose to any reporters to do stories to gain awareness to our causes.  
• Funeral Homes: We will be working directly with the funeral homes regarding those who are listed as needing more information and will be buried as indigents.
• News Network Information: Specifically ones the are local for White Tanks and ones that have shown direct interest in publishing stories about White Tanks.  To make any changes to the policies regarding indigent burials-- we will have to bring as much public awareness as possible to the issue.  Investigative Reporters are usually the most help in this matter.
• Names of politicians for government positions in Phoenix, Maricopa County, Arizona. I would like to send letters to the Senators and other politicians to gain awareness to the issues of indigent burial policies, lack of next of kin searches, the stupid rules of White Tanks Cemetery (not being able to have headstones, etc...)  I really feel that we need to try and correct the out of sequence procedures for burying these loved ones at White Tanks Cemetery. And if we can't fix them being buried there without searching and notifying next of kin-- then we need to at least allow families to have appropriate markers to celebrate the life of their loved ones with shrines, stones, etc...

I realize that many of these indigents are homeless people. The significant amount of homeless individuals in Phoenix (and all over Arizona) is QUITE a controversial issue. Yes, some of these people have made choices that led them to where they end up-- but does it make them any less human?  Does it mean that they deserve to be placed in the ground without any family to mourn their passing? I do not feel that it does.  Each life that God gives on this earth is a life worth celebrating, no matter how off track the person may have gotten. We are OUR BROTHER'S KEEPER and we need to what is necessary to give these people the dignity and respect that they deserve!

I know that to get to the root of this problem, it really takes outreach to the homeless, mentally ill, substance abusers, etc... but I can't do that.  I can only do the little bit that I can from across the country- but I feel that any effort made is better than no effort made.