To access sealed adoption records in California, the route depends on what you’re after. Non-identifying background information about your birth parents can be obtained by written request to the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) or the licensed agency that handled the adoption. Your original birth certificate and the full sealed court file, however, require filing a petition in superior court and meeting a strict legal standard. California also runs a Mutual Consent Program that lets adult adoptees and birth parents exchange contact information voluntarily, and starting July 1, 2028, adult adoptees will be able to request their original birth certificate directly from the State Registrar without a court order.
Non-Identifying Background Information
This is the easiest category to get and the right starting point if you want medical history, physical descriptions, educational background, or general social history about your birth parents. Identifying details like names and addresses are not included.
Write to CDSS or to the licensed adoption agency that handled your adoption. Include your name, date and place of birth, and your adoptive parents’ full names. Your signature must be notarized. CDSS does not accept these requests by email or fax.1California Department of Social Services. Adoptee Background Some private agencies may charge a fee.
Getting Your Original Birth Certificate
The original birth certificate — the one issued before the adoption, naming your birth parents — is sealed. Until July 2028, the only way to obtain a copy is a court order. You cannot request it directly from the California Department of Public Health.
File a petition under Health and Safety Code section 102705 with the clerk of the superior court, either in the county where you live (if you’re in California) or in the county where the adoption was finalized. You must show “good and compelling cause” for the court to unseal the record. The decision is entirely at the judge’s discretion.2California Department of Social Services. How to Obtain Original Birth Certificate From the Superior Court
If the petition is granted, you submit the certified court order with a fee to get the actual certificate. The copy is marked as informational and cannot be used for identification. The original stays sealed, so any future request means going through the court again.3California Department of Public Health. The Adoption Process Pamphlet
A birth parent’s name and address will be released only if you can show the information is necessary to establish a legal right. Wanting to make contact, by itself, does not meet that standard.
Opening the Full Sealed Court File
The full adoption court file contains the petition, relinquishment or consent documents, investigation reports, and any other filings the court considered. Unsealing it is harder than getting the original birth certificate because the legal standard is significantly higher.
File a petition under Family Code section 9200 with the superior court in the county where the adoption was finalized.4California Department of Social Services. California Department of Social Services – Adoption Records The court can authorize inspection only under “exceptional circumstances and for good cause approaching the necessitous.”5Madera County Superior Court. Petition to Inspect and/or Obtain Copies of Adoption Record That language is deliberately steep. Curiosity about your origins will not clear the bar. The most common successful argument is medical necessity: needing specific genetic or medical history to diagnose or treat a serious health condition.
If the court grants access, the clerk provides a redacted copy. Identifying information about birth parents is withheld unless you demonstrate it’s necessary to establish a legal right. When the court is open to some disclosure but reluctant to release names and addresses, it may appoint a confidential intermediary (often a social worker) to review the records, contact the birth parents, and ask whether they consent to sharing their identity.
The Mutual Consent Program
California’s Mutual Consent Program lets adult adoptees and birth parents exchange contact information without going to court. It is administered by CDSS or the licensed adoption agency that handled the adoption, and it only works when both parties have independently signed up.6California Department of Social Services. Adoptee Make Contact
You complete the Consent for Arranging Contact form (AD 902) and submit it to CDSS or the agency.7California Department of Social Services. CDSS Form AD 902 – Consent for Arranging Contact If the other party has also filed a consent form, the agency discloses an email address or phone number to both so they can reach out. Adoptees must be 18 or older.
One critical limit: CDSS and licensed agencies are prohibited by law from soliciting these consent forms or providing search services to locate the other party. Both sides must come to the program on their own. If only one party files, the consent sits on file indefinitely. You will not be notified that someone else is looking for you.
Finding a Biological Sibling
Biological siblings separated by adoption, including half- and step-siblings, have their own pathway, and the standard is more forgiving than the one for unsealing the full file.
Waiver on File
Adoptees and siblings who are 18 or older can file a Waiver of Rights to Confidentiality for Siblings (form AD 904A) with CDSS or the licensed agency. If both siblings have waivers on file, the agency discloses names and addresses so they can contact each other directly.8California Department of Social Services. Adoptee Sibling As with the Mutual Consent Program, the agency cannot solicit these waivers.
No Waiver on File
If no waiver is on file from your sibling, you can ask the court to appoint a confidential intermediary under Family Code section 9205. File a petition (Judicial Council form ADOPT-330) with a blank order (ADOPT-331) in the court that finalized either sibling’s adoption.9Judicial Branch of California. Rule 5.460. Request for Sibling Contact Information The court must grant the petition unless it finds that contact would be detrimental to the adoptee or the sibling being sought. That is a notably lower bar than the standard for unsealing the full adoption file. Petitioners under 18 must file through an attorney or a court-appointed guardian.
Once appointed, the intermediary has access to all adoption records for both siblings and locates the other sibling to ask whether they consent to contact. Consent is optional, and the intermediary must make clear that declining has no effect on the adoption’s legal status. If the sibling declines, no further attempts can be made.
Fee Waivers
Court petitions carry filing fees. If you can’t afford them, California lets you apply for a fee waiver. You qualify if any one of these is true:10California Courts. Ask for a Fee Waiver
- You currently receive public benefits such as Medi-Cal, CalFresh, CalWORKs, SSI/SSP, General Assistance, or IHSS.
- Your household income falls below the threshold on the Request to Waive Court Fees form (FW-001).
- You can show that paying the fee would prevent you from covering your household’s basic needs, even if you don’t meet the first two.
Submit the request with your petition. A waiver removes the filing-fee barrier only; it does not lower the legal standard you have to meet.
What Changes on July 1, 2028
SB 381 will give adult adoptees born in California the right to request a copy of their original birth certificate directly from the State Registrar, with no court order required. The standard fees and processing times for any birth certificate request will apply.11California Legislative Information. Today’s Law As Amended – SB-381 Vital Records: Adoptees’ Birth Certificates
The law also creates a contact preference form that birth parents can file with the State Registrar. When an adoptee receives their original birth certificate, any contact preference form on file will be included. The three options are:
- “I would like to be contacted.”
- “I would prefer to be contacted only through an intermediary.”
- “I would prefer not to be contacted at this time.”
The preference form is voluntary and not legally binding. A birth parent who files nothing simply has no stated preference. Descendants of a deceased adoptee will also be able to request the original birth certificate under the same process. Until July 2028, the court petition is still the only path.