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A bill passed by the Minnesota Legislature this year allows adopted people born in Minnesota who are age 18 or older to request and receive non-certified copies of their original birth records beginning July 1, 2024.

To begin implementing the new law, the Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) has made a new form available on its website. It will allow people who placed children for adoption to indicate a preference on being contacted by the adopted person.

Birth records show the names of birth parents, the adopted person’s name at birth, the place of birth and additional details. Currently, original birth records are sealed, and birth parents may submit an affidavit of disclosure or non-disclosure to provide or restrict an adopted person’s access to their original birth record. With this change in the law, all such affidavits on file will expire on June 30, 2024, and adopted people age 18 and older can access their original birth records. Birth records may also be requested by people related to the adoptee, or their legal representatives, if an adoptee is deceased.

The contact preference form that is now available can be used for both past and future adoptions. People who have placed a child for adoption in Minnesota and would like to have information on file with the original birth record as to whether they would like to be contacted should fill out the form.

The completed forms will be attached to original birth records and provided to adoptees who request their records once they are available next year. Regardless of the contact preference expressed by birth parents, adopted people will still be eligible to receive a non-certified copy of their original birth records and may choose to initiate contact.

More information about the change, along with the birth parent contact preference form, is available on MDH’s Birth Records and Adoption webpage.