Requesting an Original Birth Certificate

Questions about how, when, and where a New York adopted person (or that person’s descendant) can order a certified copy of their original birth certificate? Here’s what the nine other unrestricted states do.

The effective date of the law is January 15, 2020, but that only means the application to request your OBC will be available by then. Details about how the process will work, how long it will take, and what you will need to apply are not yet available, but there’s enough information and basic knowledge about how these requests work in other unrestricted states that we can get a sense of how the Empire State will also make this happen.

Second, a few things to say to tamp down some rumors and to correct a few misconceptions that are running around the interwebz, primarily on Facebook:

• It is highly unlikely you can show up at the vital records office—whether in Albany or on Worth Street in Manhattan—submit an application for your OBC, and walk away with a copy that same day. I don’t see that happening at all.
• You will not need to submit your request in person or travel to New York to do so. No state requires this, and that also makes no sense.
• There are two departments of health involved in New York that will provide certified copies of the original birth certificate and they have different procedures. One is the New York State Department of Health. The other is the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. If you don’t know where to apply, the New York Adoptee Rights Coalition has this helpful resource to get you in the right place.
• Online applications are encouraged for requesting original birth certificates from the New York State Department of Health. The New York City Department of Health, however, has released a short statement saying that applications will be accepted by mail at first and that it will “start taking orders online later in the year.”
• You will likely not need to submit a copy of your amended birth certificate to make the request. I am aware of only one state that may require this: Maine. I may be wrong about this, but I would be surprised if a copy of your amended certificate is required.
• Descendants of adopted people will need to provide more information and documentation than adoptees. Why? To link the descendant to the adoptee. This will be the one instance where your current birth certificate may be required to demonstrate your relationship to the adopted person. How expansively New York interprets legal and biological descendant is not yet known, other than it will be direct line descendants, meaning children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, etc.
• You will need basic information about who you are (i.e., your name and valid identification), where you live (to mail the OBC to you when it is located and produced), who your adoptive parents are, and the name that appears for you on your current legal birth certificate. The state or city needs this information to locate your vital records.
• It may take weeks (and maybe a few months at first) to get your copy of your own OBC in the mail. There will be a crush of applications in the beginning, which will likely make the initial wait longer.

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What Happens in Other Unrestricted States

Here’s what the nine other unrestricted states require to apply for and obtain your own original birth certificate. Links to those states’ information pages and the current form the state uses are also provided.

Alabama

Alabama began releasing original birth records of adopted people in 2000, and the state also releases original birth records that it sealed after legitimation or paternity determinations. As of December 31, 2016, more than 6,776 OBCs have been released.

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Alaska

Alaska has always released the original birth certificate to an adopted person, upon request at 18 years of age or older.

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Colorado

Colorado provides an original birth certificate upon request to adult adopted people as well as to others, including parents of a minor adoptee, descendants of the adoptee if the adoptee is deceased, and spouses, parents, siblings, and grandparents with the written permission of the adult adoptee. At last count, at least 4,000 OBCs have been released since the records became available on January 1, 2016.

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Hawai’i

Since June 21, 2016, Hawai’i provides court adoption records upon request to the adopted person at age 18 or over, as well as to birthparents and adoptive parents. The court record typically includes the original birth certificate.

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Kansas

Kansas has always released a copy of the adopted person’s own sealed original birth certificate, upon the adopted person’s request at age 18 years of age.

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Maine

Maine began releasing copies of an adoptee’s own original birth certificate in 2009 and, as of the end of 2017, had released 1,758 OBCs.

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New Hampshire

New Hampshire enacted a law in 2004 that provides an unrestricted right of an adult adoptee, at age 18, to request and obtain a non-certified copy of his or her own original birth certificates. The law became effective on January 1, 2005, and, as of December 31, 2015, adoptees have made 1,760 requests for copies of their OBCs.

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Oregon

Oregon passed its unrestricted law in 1998 but litigation delayed full implementation until the year 2000. It releases the original birth certificate at age 21, though nearly all court records are available upon request at age 18. As of May 2019, Oregon has released 12,428 certified copies of the adoptees’ own original birth certificates.

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Rhode Island

Rhode Island releases an adoptee’s own original birth certificate to the adoptee upon request, though the age required for release is 25 years of age or older. Since 2012, when its law went into effect, approximately 1,300 OBCs have been released.