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Question:When I was 12 I was adopted by a stepparent but no amendment of my birth certificate was ordered. A year ago an online search showed my birth certificate was still in my birth name. Now suddenly my name is coming up in the online birth index with the adoptive name instead of the birth name without any notice to me or consent by me. What law would allow this?


Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: When I was 12 I was adopted by a stepparent but no amendment of my birth certificate was ordered. A year ago an online search showed my birth certificate was still in my birth name. Now suddenly my name is coming up in the online birth index with the adoptive name instead of the birth name without any notice to me or consent by me. What law would allow this?

Hi Solitude,

Even though you were not involved in a traditional infant adoption, you are still a victim of the closed adoption record laws. Decisions are made for minor children and they have no say in what their name will become if their parents or the state decide to arrange an adoption on their behalf.

I understand your frustration. No adoptee consents to having their name changed yet it happens extensively. I have known many adoptees of stepparents, who discover for the first time when as adults, they attempt to obtain a record of their own birth and they are legally unable to do so. Even when they already know the factual information contained on it. All they are legally entitled to is an amended birth certificate stating that their name has been changed, their stepparent gave birth to them, and their natural parent is rewritten out of history. This is NOT just the law until you turn 18. This law is PERMANENT for anyone involved in an adoption for their entire adult lives, short of a court order by a judge.

You ask what law would allow this? This is adoption law in the U.S. today. Every state but 6 currently permit this to continue. Amended birth certificate laws were originally implemented after WWII to address the stigma that society placed on single parenthood at that time. Society has since evolved, yet the practice of altering & sealing birth certificates continues. It is archaic, it is wrong, & it is unfair to adult citizens.

If you would like to help restore rights to adoptees, please join us in a demonstration for adoptee rights at the National Conference of State Legislature’s Annual Meeting in New Orleans, LA, on Tuesday July 22th, 2008. See link below for further details.

Thanks for asking, & I wish you good luck.

julie j
reunited adoptee

?? the weird thing would be an adoption that did NOT have an amended birth certificate. I can't understand why it would have shown up with the original name. The only thing I can think of is that the original index was posted online, while it was still 'in process', and that later, the amended notations were made as they should have been.
Any index is based on documentation of official records. If the record is there, then there is no legal reason to notify or seek consent. What is also very strange, is that in most cases (in the US), birth records of living persons should not appear online anyway.

You're actually seeing the difference between the local county's copy and the State's copy. When an adoption is perfected, the Judge signs an order that the is sent to the Secretary of State entering the amended certificate into the official records of the State. The attorney handling the adoption is also supposed to hand deliver a copy of the order of amendment to the Clerk of the Court in the County holding the original. If the attorney forgot to do that, then the original remains unchanged, but the State's copy is perfected.

The only way to bring them in line with each other is to take a copy of the Adoption decree to the Clerk of the Court in the County of birth and have their copy amended. You can't undo the order in the adoption decree without having your name legally changed and paying hundreds of dollars to do it.

Depending on the nature of your adoption, your guardianship and whether you were a minor at the time of the action, your consent may not have been required.

Many states have laws that require courthouses to notify the Vital Statistics office of adoptions, name changes, and paternity orders. The state then amends the birth certificate to reflect the adoption or name change. The birth certificate is the property of the state, and they don't need your consent to amend the birth certificate to reflect a legal/court-ordered change.