Adoption Records Search

Keep it all in the family with public records of adoption

It is quite common for people touched by adoption to want to access adoption records at some point in their lives. Adoptees, birth parents, adoptive parents, siblings separated by adoption, and any extended family members on either side of the adoptee's family may want to find adoption records for a variety of reasons.

It is a natural desire to know one's medical history. An adoptive parent's death, or the birth of a child, may trigger a desire to find a birth family. Many people have the natural curiosity to find out what genetic traits and talents may have been inherited. Find adoption records, depending upon their type:

1. Open adoption records remain open to adoptive parents and birth parents in states that allow the adoptive parents to keep the records unsealed. Otherwise, records are sealed.

2. Closed adoption records require a court order in order to access the information about the birth parents, and it is quite common that birth father information is not recorded.

3. Pre-adoption birth records are becoming accessible to adoptees, birth parents and adoptive parents on an individual state basis.

Start an adoption records search

The best place to start an adoption record lookup is with the state where the adoptee was born. Second to that is to search and place known information about the adoptee or birth parents into any searchable databases available.

Find online public adoption records

Locating adoption public records requires the birth name of the adoptee in most cases, which may end a search before it begins since many adoptees do not know the name of their birth mother, nor the name that would be put on the birth certificate. But if you have a last name, doing a search of public adoption records could return results with little effort.

Gather together and search state adoption records

Search adoption records by state in order to locate the adoption record your seek. If the state of birth is unknown, the search will take longer, but it is not pointless. Use an alphabetical listing of state resources and start searching with the information you have.
state statutes which apply to adoption record inquiries to see if records are permanently sealed, or if access is allowed. The National Foster Care & Adoption Directory can assist in locating foster care and adoptive agencies to assist with an adoption family records search.

• Anyone touched by an adoption understands what it means to an adoptee to obtain a pre-adoption birth record. Birth certificates are issued at the time of adoption, but holding the original birth certificate allows for a sense of completeness to someone who has a birth family and an adoptive family.

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