Since January 1, 2026, adopted individuals in North Carolina born after 1971 have been able to obtain amended birth certificates with increased ease.[1] Known as Senate Bill 248, this law allows adoptees and certain eligible family members to request these birth certificates from the Register of Deeds in the adoptee’s county of birth.[2] The previous system, by contrast, required adoptees to submit requests through the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services in Raleigh, where the certificates could take weeks or even months to process.[3] Governor Josh Stein ultimately signed S.B. 248 into law with the primary goal of creating “a more efficient and convenient process” for obtaining such vital records.[4]
High hopes exist that this goal will be accomplished, as S.B. 248 contains several measures that streamline the process of obtaining the amended certificates. Senator Todd Johnson, who sponsored the legislation in the North Carolina General Assembly, is confident that SB 248 “will help alleviate people who were adopted in their County from waiting months and paying unnecessary fees to obtain a copy of their birth certificate.”[5] In addition to increasing the number of locations capable of amending certificates by 100-fold, those seeking to digitize their birth certificates may now request digitization through the North Carolina Office of Vital Records Portal.[6] Moreover, the State Registrar is now required to complete digitization within two business days, which constitutes a significant improvement in turnaround time.[7]
Notably, the amended birth certificates will be standardized to match the certificates issued to non-adopted individuals and will list the adoptive parents as legal parents without any reference to adoption.[8] Proponents of S.B. 248, therefore, equally emphasize this law’s commitment to security and confidentiality. According to Sherri Rogers of the Haywood County Register of Deeds, this law only impacts post adoptive birth certificate, as “[a]ny record or birth certificate prior to the adoption will still remain sealed and unavailable for issuance or inspection.”[9] As Rogers alludes, whenever an adoptee in North Carolina seeks their original birth certificate, they must undergo a much more onerous process.
While North Carolina has chosen to champion increased access to amended birth certificates, the culture surrounding them in the United States has largely shifted.[10] The practice of amending birth certificates originally emerged in the 1940s as a way to prevent birth parents from interfering with the child and their adoptive family.[11] Over time, popular opinion promoted amending birth certificates as a measure to protect the privacy of biological parents, specifically single mothers who faced ostracization for having a child outside of marriage.[12] However, in the past seventy years, single-parent families have become commonplace in the United States, and children born outside of marriage are no longer deemed “illegitimate.”[13] A strong argument, therefore, exists that the practice of amending birth certificates has become obsolete.
Moreover, adoptees have increasingly asserted that knowledge of one’s own identity is a basic human right–a right that is not guaranteed for many among the 5 million adoptees in the United States.[14] Many state legislatures have responded to this demand in stride.[15] For example, in 2021, Tennessee’s legislature revoked a birth parent’s ability to veto an adoptee’s right to contact them using information on an original birth certificate, while Rhode Island passed a law reducing the age at which an adoptee can access an original birth certificate from twenty-five to eighteen.[16]Furthermore, as of 2025, sixteen states currently provide the unrestricted right for adult adoptees to access copies of their pre-adoption birth certificates.[17]
North Carolina joins just thirteen others in remaining classified as a “Restricted” state.[18] This classification denotes a state where the right of an adoptee to obtain a copy of their original birth certificate is subject to attaining a court order or the written consent of the birthparents.[19] Pursuant to G.S. 48-9-105 and G.S. 48-9-106, adoptees in North Carolina must specifically file a motion with the Clerk of the Superior Court in the county courthouse where the adoption proceeding was first filed.[20] From there, a hearing is held where the court decides whether it is “in the best interest of the adoptee” to release any sealed records.[21]
If SB 248 is any indication, North Carolina appears steadfast in its commitment to the practice of amending birth certificates. Given the manner in which supporters laud it as a “step forward for adoptees,”[22] North Carolina’s legislators, in addition to the courts, seem perfectly content to decide “what is best” for adoptees. However, the issue remains whether the change SB 248 promotes is truly productive. In a time where increasingly more adoptees are seeking comprehensive autonomy, there is an argument that the state should consider legislating access to original birth certificates as a potential redirection in its mission to promote adoptees’ rights.
[1] See North Carolina Eases Access to Adoptive Birth Certificates for Many Adoptees, ABC 15 News (Jan. 6, 2026), https://wpde.com/news/local/north-carolina-law-easier-adoptees-get-birth-certificates-haywood-county-register-deeds-eligibility [hereinafter North Carolina Eases Access].
[2] See S.B. 248, 2025 Reg. Sess. (N.C. 2025).
[3] See New Legislation Streamlines Access to Birth Certificates for Adoptees, Iredell County NC (Dec. 31, 2025) https://www.iredellcountync.gov/m/newsflash/home/detail/1816 [hereinafter New Legislation Streamlines].
[4] Id.
[5] Senate Bill 248 Becomes Law, Changing Access to Birth Certificates for Adoptees, Union County NC (Jan. 14, 2026), https://www.unioncountync.gov/Home/Components/News/News/2853/14 [hereinafter Senate Bill 248 Becomes Law].
[6] New Legislation Streamlines, supra note 2.
[7] Id.
[8] Senate Bill 248 Becomes Law, supra note 5.
[9] North Carolina Eases Access, supra note 1 (emphasis added).
[10] Andrea Ross, How Can U.S. Adoptees Get Their Birth Certificates, UC Davis (Dec. 10, 2021), https://www.ucdavis.edu/curiosity/blog/us-adoptees-may-soon-gain-access-their-original-birth-certificates#:~:text=Shifting%20culture,recently%20enacted%20legislation%20favoring%20access.
[11] Id.
[12] Id.
[13] Id.
[14] Id.
[15] See Interactive Maps: The Right to Obtain Your Own Original Birth Certificate, Adoptee Rights Law, https://adopteerightslaw.com/maps/, (last visited Feb. 25, 2025) [hereinafter Interactive Maps].
[16] Ross, supra note 10.
[17] Interactive Maps, supra note 15.
[18] Id.
[19] Id.
[20] Birth Search Family Information, NCDHHS, https://www.ncdhhs.gov/divisions/social-services/child-welfare-services/adoption-and-foster-care/frequently-asked-questions/birth-family-search-information#:~:text=Pursuant%20to%20G.%20S.%2048%2D9,are%20unfamiliar%20with%20legal%20protocol, (last visited Feb. 25, 2026).
[21] Id.
[22] North Carolina Eases Access, supra note 1.
