Birth Records Access

A woman who gives birth to a baby will typically complete a birth certificate before she leaves the hospital.  While she can get a copy of this birth certificate,  in nearly all states adoption records and the new birth certificate issued in the adopting family name are sealed and withheld from the public after the adoption has taken place.  To maintain confidentiality, most States have carefully controlled procedures to obtain non-identifying and identifying information from an adoption record.

The Child Welfare Information Gateway article Access to Adoption Records addresses the above issue.  To see how your state addresses this issue, you can visit the above CWIG site or visit Childadoptionlaws.com.

For additional information and help visit the links Obtaining Birth and Adoption Records as well as Birth Mother and Birth Father Registry and Search and Reunion.

Other resources include:

Where to Write for Vital Records: National Center for Health Statistics: Provides the mailing addresses for obtaining vital records.

National Foster Care & Adoption Directory Search: Locate reunion registries and confidential intermediaries by state.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS): Searchers adopted from another country can contact USCIS to request copies of their immigration records.

Visa Reciprocity and Country Documents Finder: Find mailing addresses of offices of vital records in foreign countries to request documents (such as a birth certificate) from government agencies in the child's country of birth.