How You Can Access Your Original Birth Certificate In Your State

Adoptees are fighting all over the country to obtain their original birth certificates. When a child is adopted, his or her original birth record is removed from public record and replaced with an amended version with the adoptive parents names listed. Most states are reluctant to hand over the original as it breaks the confidentiality of closed adoption cases. The truth is that anonymity was never guaranteed to birth parents from the state. And with the growing popularity of DNA testing by adoptees, birth parents are being located without it. Here are the laws for accessing original birth certificates in your state as of August 2017:

ALABAMA:

Available to adoptees over 19.

A birth parent may submit a contact preference form to accompany the document.

ALASKA:

Available to adoptees over 18.

An adoptee or birth parent may submit changes of name or address to be attached to the original birth certificate.

ARIZONA:

Available to adoption triad by court order and only accessible to certified confidential intermediary.

ARKANSAS:

Available to adoptees over 21 after August 1, 2018

Certificates are subject to redaction.

CALIFORNIA:

Available by court order; available through the Mutual Consent Program.

COLORADO:

Available to adoptees over 18, adoptive parents of minor adoptees, sibling/half-sibling, birth parents, and legal representation.

CONNECTICUT:

Available to adoptees 18 years old, the adoptee’s adult child or grandchild, and if the adoption was finalized on or after October 1, 1983.

DELAWARE:

Available to adoptees age 21 or older if no denial was filed by birth parents. 

FLORIDA:

Available by court order only.

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