Texas Department of State Health Services

Caring individuals who really care about making a difference in peoples’ lives. Wonderful place to work.

Extremely friendly staff. Prompt service. Clean office. For being s state owned office I have to say I always have a pleasant experience when needing death or birth certificates. Highly recommend the 49^th street location.

Great place to work and the breakfast at the Brown — Heatley Building is great! Well, I was The Duke.

This review concerns the soul-​sucking experience of using the in-​person services of the Texas Vital Statistics office here at the Texas Dept. of State Health Services (aka DSHS). No offense to the first reviewer, but working there and being a customer deliver totally different perspectives.
Dear lord, why didn’t I plan ahead and order my certified Texas birth certificate copy online
? Even if it had to be done at the last minute, I could have gone to the City of Austin’s Vital Records office on the East side
and gotten in & out in about 10 minutes (I know this is true because I’ve used that office before for this very same purpose).
The DSHS property is in a state of decay (literally), so much so that one of the newest buildings (the Moreton, a formerly pink granite structure on the southwest corner) was on the verge of collapse and is now undergoing a very expensive rehab effort with scaffolding lining all four exterior walls from ground to roof. A large portion of parking and the circle driveway is closed off to the public as a result, which means it’s even more of a pain to get in & out of there.
To make matters worse, once you finally get parked and make your way into the Vital Statistics office, you will find the most inefficient, stereotype-​confirming, bureaucratic absurdity, the kind that gives so many extreme-​leaning folks all the ammo they need to despise government. You enter a dark, gloomy, cramped lobby with shredded and deflated brown vinyl chairs from the 1970s. At least 60 different signs scream at you from every surface in demanding block print of different sizes and readability the convoluted process to order, pay for, and receive your documents.
Step 1: Wait in line at the single first window. This is where you will be asked to state your purpose, confirm that you were born (or have died) in Texas, be reminded that you need to have photo ID, and get directed to Step 2 where you will fill out the paper triplicate form in pencil. Notice that they do, in fact, take credit and debit cards (for an additional $ 3 (!!) fee, you know, like the ATMs in bars and casinos?), which is totally contrary to their website which tells you that you must bring cash or check for this transaction. Feel glad that you took the extra time to dig that old retro checkbook out of the back of the desk drawer before you headed over.
Step 2: Sit at a crowded table right in the middle of the 5 lines for service (!!) to painstakingly complete your triplicate form with the blunt pencils provided. Scowl at the other patrons who at least had the good sense to print off their forms and fill them out at home. They have now bypassed you in line.
Step 3: Get in the next line to wait for the next available service window where you will drop off your form and payment. Wonder why you couldn’t have paid at Step 1 the first time you interacted with a staff member who is behind the same counter. Watch through the glass windows as a multitude of employees appear to do anything but help move this line along. Overhear (whether you want to or not) the frustrations of the people all around you giving the play-​by-​play about how their day was ruined by the time wasted in this place.
Step 4: Ahhh, this is it! You are next in line! Proceed to one of the staffed windows, hand over your form, your ID, and your payment. That was fast! Uh uh, you’re not done yet. Go sit down and wait some more.
Step 5: Find the least revolting of the available chairs and read the news on your smart phone. Oh wait, you can’t! There is no decent internet connection in here, and although there is a wi-​fi signal labeled «DSHS Guests», no where is the password posted. Okay, well, at least there is a TV up in the corner. No, it’s dark, just taunting you with its absence of function. Arghhh! Replay scenes from the film Falling Down in your head and grin for a moment. Wait. Listen. Did you hear that? It’s your name! Your document has finally come out of the printer. You are almost free!
Step 6: Rush back to the window where you paid. Sign for delivery, grab your documents, and hurry for the door before they put you in another queue.
2 stars are for the very friendly ladies working behind the counter. I got the feeling they were just as depressed by the place as we customers.
Please, DSHS Bureau of Vital Statistics, the citizens of Texas beg of you. It doesn’t have to be this way! There are so many opportunities to make your jobs easier and your customers (fellow Texans) much happier. Let some bright, enthusiastic grad students from the UT School of Social Work or LBJ School of Public Affairs come in there to do a process improvement study for you, and then implement their recommendations. At the very least, take a field trip to the City of Austin’s Vital Records office or the DPS Mega Center in Pflugerville and see how they do it.