Overview of current state-level adoptee rights or adoption-related legislation in the United States for the upcoming 2026 legislative sessions. Federal legislation related to adopted people is here. Legislative maps and bill analysis for prior sessions are available for 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025.
Map and Bill Descriptions
Summaries and analysis by Gregory D. Luce. Current through January 18, 2026
KEY: Active • Enacted • Dead/Carried Over
2026 Adoptee Rights Legislation (Domestic)
Active Bills
KEY: Support | Neutral | Oppose | Impacts intercountry adoptees
California
SB381 Unrestricted equal rights bill that would release an adult adopted person’s original birth record upon request. This bill started off as a completely different bill in 2025, and a “strike all” amendment gutted the old bill and substituted new language. At its core, the bill would restore the equal right of California-born adult adopted people to request and obtain their own original birth records. The bill also allows adult descendants of a deceased adopted person to request the record. It also has a standard “contact preference form” that a birthparent may file to express any preference for contact. Senator Aisha Wahab is carrying the bill. It passed through the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 13, 2026, then through the Senate Health Committee the next day. It is now set to be heard in the Appropriations Committee. The California Alliance for Adoptee Rights is advocating for the bill.
Mississippi
HB838 Releases a copy of the original birth record to the adult adopted person upon request if 21 years of age or older. Mississippi typically has multiple OBC bills filed each year, all of which have either died in committee or amended with discriminatory provisions. HB838 is identical to last session’s HB1395. 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. How the state or its courts will interpret an apparent conflict is unclar. Rep. Billy Adam Calvert is the bill’s sponsor again in 2026. Bills in Mississippi must typically move ahead quickly in the session to stay alive. Note: the age of majority in Mississippi is currently 21 years of age, though bills are often introduced each year, including this year, to change it to 18.
Pennsylvania
SB536/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.
Virginia
HB301 Restores the right of adult adopted people to request and obtain their own original pre-adoption birth certificates. HB301 is identical to the 2025 bill, which added a contact preference form (CPF) to allow a birthparent to indicate a preference for contact with the adopted person. The CPF does not affect the release of the birth record to the adopted person. The primary provision of the bill states that “upon written request and proof of identification, the State Registrar shall provide an adult adopted person access to his original birth certificate and contact preference form, if available . . . and make such certificate and form available for copying.” The primary bill author (known as a chief “patron” under Virginia legislative procedures) is Democrat Katrina Callsen, who is joined by Delegates Debra Gardner (D) and Wendell Walker (R), previously the chief patron for prior bills. The bill, pre-filed on January 9, 2026, has not yet been assigned to committee. The Virginia Adoptee Rights Alliance is advocating for the bill.
Wisconsin
SB388/AB390. Provides for release of an “impounded” original birth record to a Wisconsin-born adoptee who is at least 18 years of age. This is a near identical bill from prior bills that made their appearances in the last two sessions of the Wisconsin legislature, each time sponsored by Sen. André Jacque and Rep. Paul Tittl. As in prior years, the bill is fairly straightforward and provides for the release of an adopted person’s “impounded” birth record to the adoptee if the adopted person is at least 18 years old. It retains all other intermediary provisions in current Wisconsin law related to additional identifying information about birthparents. The bill does not apply to descendants or other family members of the adopted person. The Senate Committee on Mental Health, Substance Abuse Prevention, Children and Families heard SB388 in early September. The Assembly Committee on Children and Families has been assigned to consider AB390.
Enacted
New York
A1944/S7365. [ENACTED] 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 was carried again in 2025 by Assemblymember Amy Paulin; S7365 is being carried by Senator Brad Hoylman-Sigal. The bills ultimately passed both chambers, and Governor Hochul signed the A1944 into law on November 21, 2025. It is effective December 21, 2025.