Your birth certificate is necessary when applying for a U.S. passport.
There are several different ways to obtain your adopted child's original birth records---even if the only information you know about the child's birth is the state in which she was born. Once you request the birth records, they will be mailed to you within a few weeks.
Instructions
1. Ensure you can legally obtain the birth certificate. The only people who can get a copy of the birth certificate are: the child whose name is on the birth certificate, the child's parents (this includes adopted parents), the child's adult siblings and---once the child is grown---the spouse.
2. Locate the county of the hospital where the child was delivered. You can request a copy of the birth record from that county's clerk's office.
3. Call the vital records office in the state where the child was born and ask for a copy of the "full" birth records for the child. The office will send you a request form in the mail that you will have to fill out and send back. Within a few weeks, the vital records office will send you a copy of the child's birth records. If you don't know where the vital records office is, continue to Step 4.
4. Visit the website for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (see Resources). Select the letter "V" from the top of the page. Scroll down and select "Vital Records." Click on the state where the child was born. The information that you need will open in the next window: the address and phone number of the vital records office, as well as how much it will cost to obtain a copy of the birth records.
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