Missouri Adoptions
Where do I get it from?
There are two or more locations that may hold information regarding your adoption or the adoption of your deceased relative. An Original Birth Certificate (OBC) would have been created at the time of birth. This document holds the names of the baby and the birth mother. Additional information about the birth mother on the OBC may include her age, her state of birth and her address at the time of the adoptee’s birth. There is a chance the birth mother used an alias on the OBC which will then have you looking for a person who doesn’t exist. There is no way to know if the name was an alias or not based on the OBC.
The OBC may or may not have the name of the birth father listed.
The request for an OBC for all adoptee’s born in Missouri are made directly to Missouri Vital Records. The adoptee or their lineal descendent (if the adoptee is deceased) may request an OBC. Missouri Vital Records Information for Adoptee’s
The Missouri County Court that finalized the adoption should have a file containing information about the adoption. In many cases, a social history was obtained from the birth mother at the time of the adoption. This information may contain additional information regarding the birth mother’s family, her education, occupation, how she knew the birth father, etc. It may also have information about the birth father. Some cases do not have any additional information about the birth mother other than her signature.
In Missouri, the Court is allowed to release to you a copy of the social history information contained in the file with the identifying information removed. They are allowed to release identifying information to you only when certain conditions have been met. These conditions include having the birth parent’s written permission or proof of their death. The birth parent’s rarely placed written permission in the file and the Court’s do not have updated contact information for the birth parent.
In the event of a request for identifying information from an adoptee, the Court’s can provide a copy of the non-id from the file, if any exists, and can provide information on their search process for obtaining the information needed to allow the release of identifying information. The Court will either conduct the search themselves or authorize their court approved searcher to conduct the search.
Adoptee Full Search
For those adoption searches that will require the use of the official court file for full information on the birth parents, the Full Search is the method by which we will proceed. This allows the Court to provide the identifying information to the “confidential intermediary” approved by the court for use in the search. This process then requires that any information the Searcher finds is reported to the Court. The Court then provides the information allowed to be released directly to the adoptee. FYI – Jackson County provides the resulting identifying information to the adoptee by phone. No information is other than the non-id is provided in writing.
If you would like to print off the search agreement form and mail with payment, please use the top link to the form only.
If you wish to pay online, you may select the lower link to obtain the request form and make payment for a full search through the Court.
Lineal Descendent Full Search
If the adoptee is deceased, a lineal descendent is allowed to request a search from the Court. For those adoption searches that will require the use of the official court file for full information on the birth parents, the Full Search is the method by which we will proceed. This allows the Court to provide the identifying information to the “confidential intermediary” approved by the court for use in the search. This process then requires that any information the Searcher finds is reported to the Court. The Court then provides the information allowed to be released directly to the adoptee. FYI – Jackson County provides the resulting identifying information to the adoptee by phone. No information is other than the non-id is provided in writing.
If you would like to print off the search agreement form and mail with payment, please use the top link to the form only.
If you wish to pay online, you may select the lower link to obtain the request form and make payment for a full search through the Court.
Missouri Original Birth Certificate
An adoptee born in Missouri will have an original birth certificate on file with Vital Records in Jefferson City, Missouri. This is the document that contains the birth mother’s name and age. It may or may not contain the name of the birth father. We find that many do not. The birth certificate that an adoptee uses during their life with the names of the adoptive parents is known as the “amended birth certificate” and is the legal birth certificate.
An adoptee or their lineal descendent if the adoptee is deceased may request an original birth certificate from Missouri Vital Records. The link to the form is below.
Adoptees born in any state but adopted through a Missouri court will have a file with that particular county court. This file may contain identifying and non-identifying information about the birth parents. This “story” is called the social history. There will not be an original birth certificate in the court file. Some files do not have a social history and only contain the name of the birth mother with no additional information.
Many adoptions occurred in Kansas City through the Jackson County Juvenile Court. The Jackson County Court has their own form to make a request for information from their file. The request form is below.