Overview of current state-level adoptee rights or adoption-related legislation in the United States for the 2025 legislative sessions. Federal legislation related to adopted people is here. Legislative maps and bill analysis for prior sessions are available for 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024.
Map and Bill Descriptions
Summaries and analysis provided by Gregory D. Luce. Current through July 8, 2025
KEY: Active • Enacted • Dead/Carried Over
2025 Adoptee Rights Legislation (Domestic)
Active Bills
KEY: Support | Neutral | Oppose | Impacts intercountry adoptees
New York
A1944/S7365. [AWAITING GOVERNOR’S SIGNATURE] Extends the issuance of New York state foreign certificates of birth to adult intercountry adopted people. In most states an intercountry adoptee as a minor can be issued a certificate of foreign birth so long as there is a full and final adoption registered in state court. This bill extends the issuance of a foreign certificate of birth (which New York calls a “certificate of birth data”) to any adoptee of any age, including people adopted as adults. It also makes the ability to obtain a certificate of birth data retroactive for adoptees who did not previously receive such a certificate as a child (New York did not begin issuing certificates of birth data to intercountry adoptees until the late 1970s). A1944 was first introduced in 2023, and it is carried again by Assemblymember Amy Paulin; S7365 is being carried by Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal. The bills passed both chambers and they are now awaiting Governor Hochul’s signature.
Pennsylvania
HB536/SB644 Eliminates redactions and other discriminatory provisions previously enacted in 2018. These bills do what’s needed to amend current Pennsylvania law so that Pennsylvania-born adult adopted people will have a right to receive a copy of their own original birth certificate without any discriminatory provisions. Specifically, they eliminate the nutty creation of a “summary” document that lists information on the birth record but does not provide an actual copy of the record. The bills also eliminate a high school graduation (or equivalent) requirement to request your original birth record. And, importantly, the bills repeal the ability of a birthparent to redact information on the original birth record. Rep. Tara Probst introduced the bill in the House, where it is currently assigned to the Health Committee. Sen. Cris Dush in the Senate is the prime sponsor, and it has been assigned to the Health and Human Services Committee.
Enacted into Law
KEY: Support | Neutral | Oppose | Impacts intercountry adoptees
Georgia
SB100 [ENACTED] Straightforward OBC equal rights bill. This is the third go-round for a bill that has had wide bipartisan support in the legislature. It is very basic and straightforward: an adult adopted person who is at least 18 years of age may request and obtain a non-certified copy of their original birth record upon request to the state registrar. The bill also provides for a parent, sibling, or descendant of a deceased adopted person to request and obtain a copy. It is sponsored again by Senator Randy Robertson, who filed the bill on February 5, 2025. The Georgia Alliance for Adoptee Rights is the primary organization advocating for the bill. The bill sailed through the Senate committee as in prior years and passed the full Senate unanimously on March 6, 2025. In the House it was recommended unanimously for passage in its assigned committee and overwhelmingly passed the full House on April 2. Governor Brian Kemp signed it into law on May 13, 2025, and it becomes effective on July 1, 2025.
Idaho
H0047 [ENACTED] Modifies Idaho’s current discriminatory law by making it applicable to all adopted people, not just those adopted after July 1, 2022. This is a repeat of the “40-year-old adoptee” bill from last session, but they’ve removed a requirement that certain adopted people must be 40 years old to request their own birth records. H047 instead makes current law applicable to all adult adopted people, not just those adopted on or after July 1, 2022. This means that, if enacted, any Idaho-born adopted person may at age 18 request their own original birth record, the release of which is facilitated through the state’s adoption registry. If there is a match through the registry, the birthparent has thirty days to express a preference for contact, which can include a request “that the registered birth parent’s name be redacted before records are released, which request shall be effective for five (5) years.” The birthparent can re-register the redaction request again after five years have elapsed, when the adopted person makes another request for the OBC. It is sponsored by the House Judiciary, Rules and Administration Committee, where it was reported out favorably. It passed the House in late February on a 66-4 vote, and the Senate 30-4-1 on March 18. Governor Brad Little signed the bill, making it law, effective July 1, 2025.
Maryland
HB243 [ENACTED] Carryover bill from 2024 that repeals the requirement that an adult’s legal parents must consent to the person’s adoption— even as an adult. Adult adoption—i.e., the adoption of one adult by another adult or adults—is an option in every state in the United States, and very few states have significant limitations on the procedure. Most states allow adults to adopt other adults, and the only requirement for most of these adoptions is the consent of the adult to be adopted. Maryland, however, is currently one of two states in the United States to require the consent of the adult adoptee as well as the adoptee’s legal parents at the time of the proposed adoption. As such, adults who legally wish to end their current relationship with their parents—for whatever reason— may not do so in Maryland unless they first obtain their current parents’ consent. This bill eliminates the need of an adult to consent for an adoption from their parents. It was introduced in 2024 and received hearings in committee and voted out of the Maryland House on a unanimous vote. It has returned for the 2025 session, and was reported favorably from the House Judiciary committee and passed the House 136-0 on February 20. It was heard and recommended for passage by the Senate Judicial Proceedings Committee on March 20, 2025, and later passed by the Senate. Gov. Wes Moore signed it into law, effective October 1, 2025.
North Carolina
SB248 [ENACTED] Addresses apparent issues facing adopted people who request their amended post-adoption birth records. North Carolina’s vital records system has been incredibly slow to provide copies of vital records to people who request them. This bill appears to address specific requests from adopted people who need a certified copy of their their amended post-adoption birth record. The bill would expand the government offices that can provide amended records to include the county register of deeds, in addition to the state registrar. It passed both chambers and the governor signed the bill into law on June 13, 2025. It is effective January 1, 2026.
Tennessee
HB102/SB1267 [ENACTED] Lowers age to obtain adoption records from 21 to 18; allows limited release of certain adoption records in cases where evidence of rape or incest had earlier prohibited release. Tennessee has a complex system to obtain “adoption records,” which includes an original birth record and additional adoption-related records. Current law allows an adult adopted person at age 21 to request and obtain these records, though the fee to request records is a whopping $150. HB102 lowers the age to 18. Current law also prohibits release of adoption records when the “records indicate that, with respect to the adopted person, the biological parent was the victim of rape or incest.” HB102 would allow release in such cases if the biological parent is deceased. The bill also expands release of records to include requests from adoptive parents whose children are under 18, in addition to the state agency in certain cases. Rep. William Lamberth (R-Portland) introduced the bill early in the session and it moved quickly through committee and passed the full House and Senate. Governor Bill Lee signed the bill into law, making it effective on July 1, 2025.
Utah
HB129 [ENACTED] Promising when introduced, later amendments created birthparent rights to petition the court for successive ten-year court prohibitions against releasing records, including the birth record. Utah last amended its current law in 2020 to require a birthparent’s permission to release any “adoption documents.” That law went into effect in November 2021. Initially this bill attempted to repeal the 2020 law and to establish the simple unrestricted right of an adult adopted person to request and obtain copies of their “adoption documents” (under Utah law, adoption documents include “adoption-related document filed with the office, a petition for adoption, a decree of adoption, an original birth certificate, or evidence submitted in support of a supplementary birth certificate.”) Once the bill got through its first House committee and hit the House floor, a substitute bill was offered to give birthparents the right—prior to the adoptee reaching 18 years of age— to petition the court to seal the records for ten years, with an option to seal it for successive ten-year terms. The birthparent must either show reasonable fear of harm if the records are released or show there is good cause to keep the records sealed. The bill does not appear to apply to adopted people who are already 18 years of age or older at the time of the bill’s effective date. The bill is being carried by Representative Raymond Ward (R-Davis County). The restrictive substitute bill passed the House on a 72-0-3 vote. It passed through its Senate committee, with amendments, and the full Senate and the House ultimately concurred with the amendments. Governor Spencer Cox signed the bill into law, which becomes fully effective on November 1, 2025.
Dead/Carried Over
KEY: Support | Neutral | Oppose | Impacts intercountry adoptees
Mississippi
HB1395 [DIED IN COMMITTEE] Releases a copy of the original birth record to the adult adopted person upon request if 21 years of age or older. Mississippi in the last few years has seen two to three OBC bills filed each year, all of which have either died in committee or were amended to go bad. HB1395, somewhat similar to bills in the past, would release the OBC to the adopted person if they are at least 21 years of age. While the bill appears to preserve birth parent vetoes over release of identifying information, it attempts to negate such vetoes by exempting them from the release of the adopted person’s birth record. Rep. Billy Adam Calvert is the bill’s sponsor. HB1395 died quickly in the Judiciary A Committee. Note: the age of majority in Mississippi is currently 21 years of age, though bills are often introduced to change it to 18.
Nebraska
LB70 [DIED AFTER HEARING] Messy adult adoption bill that continues the requirement of any legal parent to consent to adoption of their adult child. This is a mess of a bill in a mess of a state for adult adoption. First, Nebraska is one of the few states that significantly restrict adult adoptions. It currently requires the prospective adoptee to have a parent-child relationship with the proposed adoptive parent at least six months before the age of majority, as well as the adult to have no living parents. If person’s legal parents are alive, those parents must have “relinquished the adult child for adoption by a written instrument,” abandoned the adult child prior to the age of majority, or are not capable of consenting to the adoption. HB243 now adds a provision that, if the adult child has only one legal parent, that parent must still consent to the adoption. It was heard in committee on January 24, 2025 but did not move further.
New York
SB7303 [DIED IN COMMITTEE] Requires insurance coverage for medically-related genetic testing for adoptees and those who were in foster care. We are starting to see DNA-related bills like this in various states. This is fairly straightforward and requires medical insurers to “provide coverage for comprehensive medical genetic testing to determine the presence or absence of an inherited genetic characteristic . . . to persons who were adoptees . . . or who were persons placed in foster care.” Senator Jessica Scarcella-Spanton (D-Staten Island) introduced the bill. It was assigned to the Senate Insurance Committee, where it did not receive further consideration in 2024 and where it died again in 2025.
North Dakota
SB2284. [DIED IN COMMITTEE] Releases a copy of the adopted person’s original birth record upon request of an adoptee if 18 years of age or older, plus other provisions. North Dakota is one of the least populous states in the country, yet it is a state we often hear about from adoptees, particularly adoptees seeking a way to obtain their own original birth records. SB2284 is a bipartisan bill in a state whose legislature is dominated by Republicans (Republicans hold an 83-11 advantage in the House and a 42-5 advantage in the Senate). The bill would release an adult adoptee’s original birth record upon request at age 18, plus release a certified copy of the adoption decree upon request, including any birthparent identifying information that may be included in the decree. It also allows the adopted person to request a copy of the amended birth record (the record after an adoption) if the adoption had earlier been annulled or vacated. Introduced on January 20, 2025, it was referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee, where it failed to move forwared after fierce opposition from the North Dakota Catholic Conference.
South Carolina
S485 [DIED IN COMMITTEE] Allows adopted people who are seventy years of age or older to request and obtain a copy of their own original birth records. While some state laws release birth records that are more than 100 years old, we’re not sure we’ve seen a bill like this one, which requires the adoptee to be at least 70 years of age to request their own birth record. It’s one sentence long and provides that “a person seventy years of age or older who was born in the State of South Carolina and who has had his original certificate of birth sealed due to an adoption may, upon written request to the State Registrar, receive a copy of his original birth certificate and any evidence of the adoption held with the original record, regardless of the date on which the adoption was finalized.” Introduced by Senator Ronnie Cromer (R-Newberry) on March 25, 2025, S485 has been referred to the Medical Affairs Committee, where it died without a hearing.
Texas
HB1887 [PASSED HOUSE; DIED IN SENATE] Releases a noncertified copy of an adopted person’s original birth record upon request if the adopted person is at least 18 years of age. Texas advocates continue their decades-long effort to enact an unrestricted equal rights law for the release of an adopted person’s own original birth record. HB1087, sponsored by Rep. Will Metcalf (R-District 16), is straightforward and reinstates the right of a Texas-born adult adopted person to request and obtain their own original birth record if they are at least 18 years of age. If the adopted person is deceased, the bill allows an adult descendant, adult sibling, surviving spouse, or an adoptive parent of the adopted person to request and obtain the record. It has been assigned to the Public Health Committee, where it was heard on March 24, 2025 (testimony begins at 1:57). It later passed the House overwhelmingly, as similar bills have done in the past, but died in the Senate without a hearing.
Virginia
HB2093 [PASSED HOUSE: DIED IN SENATE] Reintroduced OBC bill that now adds a contact preference form. Delegate Wendell S. Walker (R-District 52) has filed a bill that the Virginia legislature considered before in 2023 and 2024. This time, the bill adds a contact preference form, which gives the option for birthparents to express a preference for contact from the adult adopted person. The Virginia Adoptee Rights Alliance has been pursuing the bill since 2023, and this session, which is a short session, it made it out of its first House Committee, by a 22-0 vote and then passed the full House 99-0. In the Senate Committee on Education and Health, however, a confusing amendment was added to the bill related to “anonymity” within the contact preference form. After members of the committee indicated that they needed more time to review the bill, it effectively died.
West Virginia
HB3076 Straightforward OBC equal rights bill. West Virginia has had a hodgepodge history of introducing birth record bills, with each session bringing strange and sometimes nonsensical approaches. This bill, however, gets it right. Or at least it does in its current form. It is a simple one paragraph addition to the law that requires the release of a certified copy of the original birth record to 1) the adult adopted person who is at least 18 years of age; 2) to the lineal descendant of the deceased adopted person; or 3) to the legal representative of the adopted person. The lead sponsor is Republican Delegate S. Chris Anders, and the bill has been filed for introduction with seven sponsors. It has been assigned to the Health and Human Resources Committee. It failed to move out of committee by March 30 and is considered dead.
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