Birth Records

Information on obtaining birth records and adoption records is provided on the links below.

The site of the National Center for Health Statistics may help you get information on birth records.

The adopted family and/or adoptee looking for documents (such as a birth certificate or adoption decree) may find that the U.S. or foreign child-placing agency is not able to provide the desired records. The adopting family or adoptee may want to apply to government agencies in the birth country. Mailing addresses of offices of vital records in foreign countries can be found on this U.S. State Department website.

Adoption records are sealed in many states and withheld from public inspection after the adoption is finalized.  However, the states, have procedures by which parties to an adoption may obtain non-identifying as well as some identifying information about an adopted child and the child's birth mother and birth father.  You may also want to check the laws of the state in which the birth father and birth mother reside and the state in which the adoption was, or will be, finalized. 

You may find it helpful to read the Child Welfare Information Gateway article "Access to Family Information by Adopted Persons".

For contact information for the state agency or department that assists adopted persons in accessing adoption records, go to the Child Welfare Information Gateway's National Adoption Directory and search under State Reunion Registry or State Confidential Intermediary Service.