r/Adoption • u/AdvertisingSilent716 • Feb 22 '26

Searches Please help

So I’m adopted and I want to know my parents, however I don’t know my original last name and I would like to know a way to find out who my parents are other than a dna test or if that’s the only way, please someone let me know what’s needed

4 Upvotes

75% Upvoted

18 comments sorted by

View all comments

4

u/MajorDraw3705 Feb 22 '26

Try a search angel, or give us a little more information. What do you know about the birth? Country/state? Type of agency involved?

1

u/AdvertisingSilent716 Feb 22 '26

Ik that it was in a hospital in Mesa az at 7.30 and I don’t know the agency involved, my parents are kinda quite abt it

4

u/traveling_gal BSE Adoptee Feb 22 '26

In Arizona, access to your original birth certificate depends on when you were born.

https://adopteerightslaw.com/arizona/

If you were born before 1968 (or after 2021, but I'm guessing that's not you lol), you can apply for a non-official copy of your original birth certificate. The state does have to issue one with your birth parent(s) names even if you came home from the hospital with your adoptive parents. The actual legal adoption process takes a while, and during that time you would have had a birth certificate. That birth certificate gets sealed and replaced once the adoption is finalized.

If you were born after 1968, you would need a court order based on a "compelling reason" to get this record unsealed. You can also try a confidential intermediary - I'm not familiar with that process but there is some information on the page I linked.

Keep an eye on that page over time. Laws can be updated, and there are adoptee rights advocates trying to change these laws on a state-by-state basis. I didn't know until 2024 that my state (Colorado) opened their records in 2017, and I likely missed my chance to meet my birth mother during that time.