When a person is adopted, their original birth certificate in most cases will be sealed in the court file and a new certificate, with all reference to the birthparent(s) names, and the adoptee's original name removed, is issued. This new certificate, referred to as the 'amended' birth certificate, usually will list your adoptive name and your adoptive parents as your mother and father. The remaining information, such as addresses, age, occupation, previous births, and race of parents, is usually the information as it applies to your adoptive parents, although mistakes have been known to be made. The hospital of birth is usually accurate, although that information, too, can be altered and was sometimes done so if the hospital was a maternity home for unwed mothers. The filing date, depending on the practice of the office issuing the certificate, sometimes remains the filing date of your original birth certificate or is sometimes the filing date of the amended. The name of the doctor is worth a special look, as you will be attempting to contact him or her later in your search.

The original birth certificate of a person adopted at birth or shortly thereafter, often will list the person's name as Baby Girl or Baby Boy, plus the last name of birth mother at the time of birth. This does not mean that your birth parent(s) did not name you. If an adoption plan had been made, often the individual taking the information for the birth certificate did not bother to ask. In general, even if your birth father was named by your birth mother, his name will not appear on your birth certificate if your birth parents were not married at the time. If your birth mother was married to someone other than your birth father, usually her name and your last name on the certificate will be her married name, and sometimes her husband will be listed as the father. Again, there are no hard and fast rules, and you should look closely at the information on both the amended and original birth certificates and be willing to dismiss some of it. The file numbers and/or registry numbers located on the original and amended birth certificates are a mystery to me. In this area, a local search and support group can be helpful so that you can compare experiences and documents with other triad members searching in the same area.

If you were not lucky enough to have been adopted in one of the few states, that provides the original birth certificate to adoptees upon request, aside from petitioning the court, there are a few other ways in which you can attempt to obtain a copy of your original birth certificate. First off, as I have written in one of my original posts you should ask your adoptive parents. Sometimes they received a copy when the adoption was finalized. Secondly, if you do have your birth name or your birth parent(s) name, or you suspect it, it never hurts to write for to Vital Statistics requesting your original birth certificate. Don't mention you were adopted, do not include any information related and if all you have is a last name, scribble your first and middle names so they're illegible, and only fill in what you know of the remaining information. In all likelihood, you will be contacted for further information, or flat out denied, but again, it never hurts to try.