American Adoption Congress supports state-by-state legislative efforts to obtain access for adult adoptees to their original birth certificates. AAC prefers unrestricted access to this document for all adult adoptees but will accept compromise legislation if, in the opinion of AAC and local supporters, such a compromise is necessary to obtain the greatest access for the greatest number of adopted persons.
New correct Legislative Terminology: PDF file Word file
This map will provide an overview of birth certificate access for adopted adults in all states.
ALABAMA - ACCESS STATE
In Alabama, the original birth certificate (OBC) is made available to adoptee, age 18 or older, upon request. Birth parents may file a non-binding Contact Preference Form, requesting direct contact with adopted adult, contact through an intermediary, or no contact at all.
Alabamians Working for Adoption Reform and Education (AWARE), a grassroots, volunteer citizens' organization composed of adoptees, birth parents, adoptive parents and other supporters nationwide, announced the passage of HB-690 on Monday, May 15, 2000 by the Alabama State Legislature.
HB-690 reopens birth and adoption records to Alabama adult adoptees and ends a 9-year roadblock enacted in 1990 as part of a sweeping overhaul of the Alabama Adoption Code. Prior to January 1, 1991, adult adoptees in Alabama had been able to view all of their adoption records upon request. Governor Don Siegelman signed the bill into law on Thursday, May 25, 2000. HB-690 provides for the release of sealed original birth certificates on written request to any adult who has one filed at the Department of Vital Statistics due to adoption, foreign birth, or legitimation. In addition to the original birth certificate, HB-690 also provides for release of the court documents pertaining to the adoption which are contained in the sealed file at the Department of Vital Statistics. In contrast to the pre-1991 situation, adult adoptees will now be able to receive and retain copies of some of their adoption-related documents. Documents held by private adoption agencies or the Department of Human Resources, however, are not impacted by this bill.
To contact AWARE, please call Sandra Pears-Wilson, President, at (205) 368-4627 or (205) 320-0335, or email her at msmarvin@hiwaay.net. David Ansardi, Vice President, may be reached by voice mail at (413) 793-4991, or by email at David_Ansardi@mindspring.com. For more information about AWARE, please visit: www.alabama-adoption.org
CONNECTICUT
Connecticut will be spending 2008 identifying and educating supporters and opponents in both the legislature and the public. Advocates plan to identify key sponsors throughout this year and to present a bill in 2009."
Contact: Paul Schibbelhute pschibbe@aol.com or
Jane Servadio janerino@optonline.net
www.OBCforCT.org
DELAWARE - ACCESS STATE
Original Birth Certificate Available to Adult Adoptees
Effective January 18, 1999, adoptees age 21 and older born in the State of Delaware can may apply for a copy of their original birth certificate. Go to www.dhss.delaware.gov/dph/ss/vitalstats.html for applying by mail or telephone. Click on the link to VitalChek Network for more information or click on Adoptee’s Birth Certificate PDF version to print out the form.
Birth parents wishing to block release of identifying information must file a written notarized statement to that effect with the Office of Vital Statistics. Such statements must be renewed every three years.
Vital Statistics will make a reasonable effort to notify a birth parent when an adoptee applies for birth records. If no disclosure veto statement is filed, the original birth certificate will be released to the adoptee 65 days after the initial request. For additional information, please contact Carolyn Hoard.
A complex and controversial bill, HB 4623, was introduced by Rep. Sarah Feigenholtz and awaits debate. Provides that a confidential intermediary has access to vital records maintained by the Department of Public Health and its designees or another state's comparable public entity (instead of the Department of Public Health and its designees) and all court or adoption agency records which relate to an adoption, a surrendered person, or relatives of the parties involved in the adoption or surrender. Provides that the confidential intermediary may provide an eligible petitioner with information about the agency that had legal custody of or responsibility for the surrendered person. Provides that the confidential intermediary may inform petitioners of the state in which the surrender or the adoption occurred. Provides that if the petitioner is an adult who was adopted or surrendered or the adoptive parent or guardian of an adopted or surrendered person under the age of 21, any non-identifying information learned during the search may be given to the petitioner at any time during the search before the case is closed (instead of before the case is closed). AAC has not taken a position on this bill.
KANSAS - ACCESS STATE
Adoption Records Were Never Sealed
Kansas adoption records have NEVER been closed. The records have always been accessible to adult adoptees (in KS that is age 18); the original birth certificate (OBC) comes from KS Vital Statistics and the adoption record comes from KS Social and Rehabilitative Services (SRS) Children and Family Policy. The often stated confusion arises from the fact that this was not clearly spelled out in the law and, in the early 1950s when many states were closing their records, the KS legislature passed a 1953 law that clearly spelled out that the records belong to adult adoptees.
The OBC is available only to the adult adoptee. The adoptee's descendants cannot get the OBC (which many want when the adoptee is deceased). The OBC is stamped, in red, VOID so that the document cannot be used for fraud. It has only been in the past 15 years or so that this has been done. The same form and fee, is used for ALL Kansans whether adopted or not adopted. This form may be accessed at: www.kdheks.gov/vital/birth.html
If an adoptee is born in KS but the adoption was completed in another state, they still get the OBC. If the adoptee was born elsewhere but the adoption was completed in KS, the adoptee can still obtain the state adoption record but the OBC stays with the state (and their laws) where the adoptee was born.
Birth parents/siblings can request a search, though SRS, and forward their identifying information to the adult adoptee. It then is the decision of the adoptee whether or not to directly contact that particular birth family member. Identifying information about the adult adoptee cannot be released to any birth family member without the written, notarized consent of the adoptee. For a Kansas state adoption record form for all adoptions completed in Kansas, click here. At the present time there is no fee for the Kansas adoption record or for requesting a search for a birth family member or adoptee.
59-2122 Files and records of adoption
(a) The files and records of the court in adoption proceedings shall not be open to inspection or copy by persons other than the parties in interest and their attorneys, and representatives of the state department of social and rehabilitation services, except upon an order of the court expressly permitting the same. As used in this section, 'parties in interest' shall not include genetic parents once a decree of adoption is entered.
(b) The department of social and rehabilitation services may contact the adoptive parents of the minor child or the adopted adult at the request of the genetic parents in the event of a health or medical need. The department of social and rehabilitation services may contact the adopted adult at the request of the genetic parents for any reason. Identifying information shall not be shared with the genetic parents without the permission of the adopted adult. The department of social and rehabilitation services may contact the genetic parents at the request of the adoptive parents of the minor child or the adopted adult in the event of a health or medical need. The department of social and rehabilitation services may contact the genetic parents at the request of the adopted adult for any reason.
Just introduced, HB444 establishes a means to gather birth medical history to be released in a non-identifying way; describes conditions of disclosure through the court in cases of inheritance rights, medical necessity or registration with the State Registry; and extends State Registry participation to parents or siblings of deceased biological parents, adoptive parents of a minor or deceased adopted person.
MAINE - ACCESS STATE
As of January 1, 2009, Maine-born adoptees will now have the right to obtain their ORIGINAL birth certificate. In anticipation of Maine’s implementation, OBC for ME advocates have been working with Maine Vital Records to implement the process. OBC for ME facilitates a bi-monthly support and working to provide education to the public and to professionals. www.obcforme.org
MASSACHUSETTS - PARTIAL ACCESS STATE
Massachusetts Senate approved legislation (SB63) on May 1, 2007, allowing adopted people 18 years or older born before July 17, 1974 (when records were sealed) or after 2007 to obtain their original birth certificates.
On September 6, 2007, the Governor signed the access bill. It limits access to the years before birth certificates were sealed in that state, and it will provide access for future adoptions. Adults, 18 and over born on or before July 17, 1974 or on or after January 1, 2008 as well as their adoptive parents will be given access, with those born between these dates denied acces.
MICHIGAN
Michigan House Bill 4896 would have allowed an adopted person to get a copy of his or her original birth certificate upon reaching age 21, and allow the birth parent to insert a contact preference form in the file with the sealed birth record, indicating a desire to be contacted or not should the adopted child obtain the birth records is currently stalled. The bill was introduced in June, 2007.
For more information, contact Tina Caudill at caudt@wideopenwest.com or Mary Foess at mlfoess@gmail.com
MINNESOTA
Minnesota’s bill would allow adoptees, 19 and older, to get their original birth certificate from the Minnesota Health Department. Current on-file Affidavits of Non-Disclosure and Disclosure (documents signed by birth parents starting in 1981) would be honored. 11,683 Affidavits of Disclosure and 1,228 Affidavits of Non-Disclosure are on file with the Minnesota Health Department. The legislation would allow adopted persons with the exception of those whose birth mothers had opted for no contact to get their original birth document. Death certificates of birth parents who had signed an Affidavit of Disclosure would allow release of the birth certificate by the Health Department.
For more information, go to www.adoptreform.org
MISSOURI
There are two bills in circulation now: HB 1758, sponsored by Rep. Cynthia Davis allows adopted adults who are 21 years of age or older to receive a certified copy of his or her original unaltered birth certificate and adoption records.
The more restrictive, SB 1132, allows adopted persons eighteen and over to obtain copies of their original birth certificate under certain circumstances. This act modifies provisions regarding adoption records. The State Registrar shall develop and, upon a birth parent's request, distribute a contact preference and a medical history form to the birth parent. The contact preference form allows a birth parent to list his or her preference for contact by the adoptee. If a contact preference form is filed with the registrar, a medical history form shall also be so filed. Upon receipt of the forms, the State Registrar shall attach such form to the original birth certificate of the adopted person.
This act allows for an adopted person, the adopted person's attorney, or the adopted person's descendants, if the adopted person is deceased, to obtain a copy of the adopted person's original birth certificate from the State Registrar upon written application and proof of identification. The adopted person shall be 18 years of age or older and a born in Missouri. The adopted person shall also agree in writing to abide by the birth parent's contact preference, if such preference is included with the adopted person's original birth certificate. The State Registrar shall also provide a medical history form, if such form was completed by the birth parent.
The provisions of the act shall not apply to adoptions instituted or completed prior to August 28, 2008, except that a copy of the medical history form, which has had all identifying information redacted, shall be issued to such adopted person. For adoptions completed prior to August 28, 2008, the state registrar shall release the original birth certificate only if the birth mother is deceased. If the birth mother is not deceased, the state registrar shall, within thirty days of application by the adopted person, contact the birth mother via telephone, personally and confidentially, to obtain the birth mother's written consent or denial to release the original birth certificate.
NEW HAMPSHIRE - ACCESS STATE
The state celebrated a year of access in June, 2007 with original Birth Certificate now available to adoptees, 18 and older. For more information, log onto: www.sos.nh.gov/vitalrecords/Preadoption%20birth%20records.htmlr
NEW JERSEY
The Adoptee's Birthright Bill, S611, sponsored by Senators Joe Vitale (D-Middlesex) and Diane Allen (R-Burlington) was released by a unanimous vote from the Senate Health, Human Services and Senior Citizens Committee on January 24, 2008. Darryl McDaniels, of "Run-DMC" Hip Hop fame, Adam Pertman, Director, Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, and Fred Greenman, AAC’s legal adviser testified in support of the bill.
On March 3, 2008, New Jersey’s Senate approved with a vote of 30 to 7 the access bill that does include contact veto by birth parents if they provide a medical history. The bill has been assigned to the Assembly Human Services Committee, for either May or June.
Anyone with a New Jersey connection who wants to help lobby for passage (either a current NJ resident, or a member of the adoption constellation who relinquished, was born or adopted a child in New Jersey) is encouraged to contact NJ's State Representative, Judy Foster at jfoster7@optonline.net.
For updates on bill status, please go to www.njleg.state.nj.us and enter S611 in the “Bill number” box, or go to www.nj-care.org for more information.
To view NJ Public Service Announcements in Support of Adoptee Birthright Legislation click here. (MP4 Video Clips)
NEW YORK
New York Assembly Bill A2277 has enough support to pass in the Assembly but is being held up in the Codes Committee. Senate bill S235 has gained support and waits a hearing by the Health Committee.
The bill would allow adopted people 18 and older the right to obtain their original birth certificates and includes a non-binding contact preference form. For more information, please visit: www.unsealedinitiative.org
NORTH CAROLINA
Confidential Intermediary Bill
As of January 1, 2008, North Carolina will allow a confidential intermediary system to facilitate search and reunion. Prior to passage of the legislation, child-placing agencies were prohibited from doing searches, no state-run registry existed and severe restrictions were imposed on the release of information to adult adoptees. The new law allows state-licensed child-placement agencies to act as intermediaries and permits birthparents and adoptive parents to sign consents for the release of identifying information at the time of the adoption.
The bill’s sponsor, Representative Margaret Dickson, has organized further potential reforms through a House Select Committee - Adoptee Birth Certificates that is examining the history of North Carolina adoption and examining national trends, research and data. Future speakers to appear before the committee include Adam Pertman, Director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. Issues being examined by the committee include access, getting death certificates in cases where the subject of the search is deceased and re-examining the newly instituted intermediary system.
For more information, contact Roberta MacDonald at nccar@mindspring.com
OHIO
Betsie Norris leads an effort that has resulted in an omnibus adoption bill, RE: Sub. H.B. 7 (L-0671-2) The Ohio bill would make the original birth certificate accessible to the adoptive parent, to the adoptee at 18 and to all lineal descendents of the adoptee. It strikes out the current Ohio registry completely, and as of 1996, disallows the portion of records that originally would be closed upon the request of birthparents.
For more information, contact Betsie Norris at Betsie.Norris@adoptionnetwork.org.
Update: April 2008 - The access component of the Ohio Omnibus bill is in danger of being removed. Betsie Norris leads an effort to prevent the removal.
If you are an Ohio constituent, please contact the House Health Committee members, especially, Representatives Matt Huffman (R-Lima), Robert Mecklenborg (R-Cincinnati) and Speaker of the House, Jon Husted.
OKLAHOMA
An Interim Study, 2007 H-052, occurred in August 2007, was attended by the Oklahoma legislators serving on the Health & Human Services Committee and spearheaded by Oklahoma Rep. Jeannie McDaniel. McDaniel hopes the Study will lead to the introduction of access legislation.
Oklahoma’s committee is being formed to conduct an interim study hearing as a first step towards legislation.
For more information, contact Samantha Franklin at sfranklin568@yahoo.com.
OREGON
Ten Years Since the Passage of Measure 58
In 1998, Oregon voters approved Measure 58, which granted adult adoptees access to the Original birth certificate. Oregon’s results serve as a prototype for what other states can expect when access legislation is passed. The release of 9267 birth certificates to Oregon adoptees during the past decade has resulted in no harm done to any party, including birth parents.
To access the history of the lawsuit that upheld Initiative 58 and to see the results of the Initiative click here.
The Does v. Oregon Decision upholding Initiative 58. (PDF 
)
TENNESSEE
Successful Court Battle to Open Records
On September 27, 1999, the Supreme Court of Tennessee at Nashville issued an opinion in the case of Promise Doe, et al. v. Donald Sunquist, et al., and upheld a new adoption records law that was to take effect July 1, 1996. After more than three years of litigation, the Supreme Court concluded that the disclosure of adoption records created on or after March 16, 1951, does not impair the vested rights or violate the right to privacy under the Tennessee Constitution. This ruling by the Supreme Court allows the Department of Children’s Services to begin processing requests for services to persons eligible to have access to their adoption records. The Department is able to act under provisions of Tennessee Code Annotated §36-1-12(c) to provide access to adoption records, sealed adoption records, sealed records, post-adoption records, or records from any other information source that were created on or after March 16, 1951. Adoption records may be released pursuant to court order as provided in Tennessee Code §36-1-138.
If any adoption was attempted or occurred before March 16, 1951, the law affecting services available to eligible persons was effective July 1, 1995. Adoption records for eligible persons are available to those surrendered for the purpose of adoption; for adoptions which were filed and dismissed or not completed, and the record was closed or sealed prior to March 16, 1951; and for any records maintained at any time by the Tennessee Children’s Home Society. The adoption record includes sealed adoption records, post-adoption records, court records, adoption agency and Department of Health vital records.
For more information, call the office of Post-Adoption Services at 615-532-5637. Details of the Tennessee court case, including legal documents, affidavits, and research, can be found here.
