Summary
Vermont does not recognize adult adoptees’ unrestricted right to their own original birth certificates. An OBC may be obtained through a probate court order or by adoptees who are at least 18 years of age and who have already obtained identifying information from Vermont’s Adoption Registry.
Vermont’s adoption registry allows disclosure of identifying information on a date-based framework:
- Adoptions finalized prior to July 1, 1986: birth parent consent required. Disclosure is allowed if the birth parent has “filed in any probate division of the superior court or agency any kind of document that clearly indicates that he or she consents to such disclosure.”
- Adoptions finalized on or after July 1, 1986: birth parent consent is not required. A birth parent, however, may file a nondisclosure statement to prohibit the release of identifying information. In addition, disclosure is prohibited if the birth parent, prior to July 1, 1996, has “filed in any court or agency any kind of document that clearly indicates that his or her identity not be disclosed and has not withdrawn the document.”
Relevant Vermont Law: Original Birth Certificates
18 V.S.A. § 5078. Adoption; new birth certificate
(a) The supervisor of vital records registration shall establish a new birth certificate for a person born in the state when the supervisor receives a record of adoption as provided in 15 V.S.A. § 449 or a record of adoption prepared and filed in accordance with the laws of another state or foreign country.
(b) The new birth certificate shall be on a form prescribed by the commissioner of health. The new birth certificate shall include:
(1) the actual place and date of birth;
(2) the adoptive parents as though they were natural parents;
(3) a notation that it was issued by authority of this chapter.
(c) The new birth certificate shall not contain a statement whether the adopted person was illegitimate.
(d) The new certificate, and sufficient information to identify the original certificate, shall be transmitted to the clerk of the town of birth to be filed according to the procedures in 15 V.S.A. § 451.
(e) The supervisor of vital records registration shall not establish a new birth certificate if the supervisor receives, accompanying the record of adoption, a written request that a new certificate not be established:
(1) from the adopted person if 18 years or older; or
(2) from the adoptive parent or parents if the adopted person is under 18 years of age.
(f) When the supervisor of vital records registration receives a record of adoption for a person born in another state, the supervisor shall forward a certified copy of the record of adoption to the state registrar in the state of birth, with a request that a new birth certificate be established under the laws of that state.
15 § 6-107. Release of original birth certificate
(a) A copy of the adoptee’s original birth certificate may be released to the adoptee upon the request of an adoptee who has attained the age of 18 and who has access to identifying information under this article [Vermont Adoption Act, 15 V.S.A. §§ 6-101 to 6-112].
(b) When 99 years have elapsed after the date of birth of an adoptee whose original birth certificate is sealed under this title, the department of health shall unseal the original certificate and file it with any new or amended certificate that has been issued. The unsealed certificate becomes a public record in accordance with any statute or regulation applicable to the retention and disclosure of birth certificates.
Relevant Vermont Law: Adoption Records
15A § 6-102. Records confidential, court records sealed
(a) All records on file with the court or in the possession of an agency, the department of health, the registry or other provider of professional services in connection with an adoption are confidential and may not be inspected except as provided in this title.
(b) During a proceeding for adoption, records are not open to inspection except as directed by the court.
(c) Within 30 days after a decree of adoption becomes final, the clerk of the superior court shall send to the registry a copy of any document signed pursuant to section 2-105 of this title.
(d) All records on file with the court or agency shall be retained permanently and sealed for 99 years after the date of the adoptee’s birth. Sealed records and indices are not open to inspection by any person except as provided in this title.
(e) The records of an agency which ceases operation in this state shall be transferred to the department for retention under the provisions of this title.
Relevant Vermont Law: Identifying Information
15 § 6-105. Disclosure of identifying information
(a) Identifying information about an adoptee’s former parent shall be disclosed by the registry to any of the following persons upon request:
(1) An adoptee who is 18 or more years old.
(2) An adoptee who is emancipated.
(3) A deceased adoptee’s direct descendant who is 18 or more years old or the parent or guardian of a direct descendant who is less than 18 years old.
(b) From July 1, 1996 to December 31, 1997, the registry shall disclose identifying information under subsection (a) of this section only if the former parent consents to such disclosure. After December 31, 1997, the registry shall disclose information under subsection (a) of this section as follows:
(1) For adoptions that were finalized prior to July 1, 1986, the registry shall disclose identifying information if the former parent has filed in any probate division of the superior court or agency any kind of document that clearly indicates that he or she consents to such disclosure.
(2) For adoptions that were finalized on or after July 1, 1986, the registry shall disclose identifying information without requiring the consent of the former parent except the registry shall not disclose such information if the former parent has filed a request for nondisclosure in accordance with the provisions of section 6-106 of this title and has not withdrawn the request or, prior to July 1, 1996, has filed in any court or agency any kind of document that clearly indicates that his or her identity not be disclosed and has not withdrawn the document.
(c) An adult descendant of a deceased former parent or the guardian of a former parent who has been declared incompetent may consent to the disclosure of information as provided for in subsection (a) of this section.
(d) If an adoptee, who is 18 or more years old, consents, identifying information about the adoptee shall be disclosed by the registry to any of the following persons upon request:
(1) The adoptee’s former parent;
(2) The adoptee’s sibling who is 18 or more years old.
(e) Identifying information about the adoptee shall be disclosed to the adoptee’s former parent if the parent of an adoptee who is less than 18 years old consents to the disclosure.
(f) Identifying information about a deceased adoptee shall be disclosed by the registry to the adoptee’s former parent or sibling upon request if:
(1) the deceased adoptee’s direct descendant is 18 or more years old and consents to the disclosure; or
(2) the parent or guardian of a direct descendant who is less than 18 years old consents to the disclosure.
(g) Identifying information about a sibling of an adoptee shall be disclosed by the registry to the adoptee upon request if both the sibling and the adoptee are 18 or more years old and the sibling consents to disclosure.
15 § 6-106. Request for nondisclosure
A former parent of an adoptee may prevent disclosure of identifying information about himself or herself by filing a request for nondisclosure with the registry as provided in section 6-105 of this title. A request for nondisclosure may be withdrawn by a former parent at any time.
Laurie F. says
October 6, 2017 at 8:43 pmI was adopted in 1960 thru Catholic Charities in Burlington Vermont. How or who can I email about getting unidentifiable info about my birth mother. Any info would be helpful. Thank you, fingers are crossed!!
Gregory D. Luce says
October 14, 2017 at 7:08 amHi, Laurie. I will follow up with you by email but I’ve found the folks at the state agency in Vermont to be pretty helpful and open about questions around identifying information. While Vermont is a “restricted” state it does have a mechanism to get information, though obviously much easier for some adoptees than others.
Michael Williams says
March 5, 2019 at 10:54 amHow do you go about requesting adoption records? Who do you contact for that? My wife’s father was adopted from Rutland, VT in 1954 and she would like to know not only her paternal side but medical issues from that side of her family as well.
Ruth says
March 8, 2019 at 5:26 pmMy father was born in Burlington, Vt. Feb. 9, 1922. He is deceased. I have seen a short form of his birth certificate in his possession years ago with his original given name at birth. His name was changed when he was adopted. When I wrote to the Vital Statistics/Birth records agency in Vt. a few years ago I was told there was no record of his birth under either his birth name or adopted name. This is confusing to me. This makes me wonder if he was ever legally adopted. I was also told I would have to wait until the 99 year waiting period for his birth certificate to be released. It sounds like birth records in Vt. were retracted at some point since he did at one time have a birth cert with his original name. Since he was a veteran and served as a rep. the Vt. Legislature he would have to have had a birth record of some sort.
Barry Bloom says
March 30, 2019 at 3:38 pmGreg Vermont has opened up in a big way with the November change. Please update your site. They have no date restrictions now on OBCs etc
Gregory D. Luce says
March 30, 2019 at 5:05 pmBarry—
Could you point me to the change, as I am not finding anything that changes the dates that are used by the registry. I note that the vital records law has been rewritten but implementation of that has now been delayed until July 1, 2019. But I’m not seeing any change in allowing release of an OBC upon request to an adult adoptee.