Indiana Adoption Records: Register at 18, Obtain Records at 21

Indiana is a compromise state for adult adoptee access to birth and adoption records. Since a 2018 reform, the default is release once an eligible adoptee has registered and consented, but a birth parent can block release of their own identifying information by choosing a specific option on the state's Contact Preference Form, and that block controls over the adoptee's own request. Registration with the Indiana Adoption History Program opens at 18; actually obtaining identifying information, including the original birth certificate, requires being 21 or older.

Information last verified on 2026-08-11. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.

Indiana's Two-Tier Age Rule: Register at 18, Obtain Records at 21

Indiana Code 31-19-25-2(b) does not place the release duty on 'the state' generally. It names seven record holders: the state registrar, the department, a local office, a licensed child placing agency, a professional health care provider, the attorney who arranged the adoption, and a court. Each of them 'shall release identifying information in the person's possession to the individual requesting the release of identifying information only if the adoptee has submitted a written consent under IC 31-19-21... for release of identifying information to the individual requesting the release.' Subsection (a) sets out who may ask in the first place: an adoptee who is an adult, a birth parent, an adoptive parent, and the spouse or a relative of a deceased adoptee or a deceased birth parent. That consent based release is the default rule, but it does not override a birth parent's own blocking option described below; the two provisions operate together.

The practical rule has two tiers, and they come from different places. Section 31-19-25-2 itself states no age beyond requiring that an adoptee making the request be an adult. The 21 threshold enters through the consent statute that section cross-references: IC 31-19-21-1 allows an adoptee who is at least 21 to consent to release in a signed writing, or an adoptive parent to consent on behalf of an adoptee who is under 21, and IC 31-19-25-19 applies the same 21-or-adoptive-parent split to a local office, a licensed child placing agency, or an attorney that contacts an adoptee. The 18 tier is a different kind of rule. Registering with the Indiana Adoption History Program at 18, using State Form 47897, the Non-Identifying Information Consent form, is Department of Health program practice rather than an age written into Chapter 25. Requesting identifying information at 21 or older uses State Form 47896, the Identifying Information Consent form. There is no fee for the Adoption Matching Registry, and Indiana requires government issued photo ID with every form submission.

This reform is broader than it might first appear. Chapter 25's own application clause states it applies to all adoptions regardless of filing date as of July 1, 2018, the effective date of Senate Enrolled Act 91. The pre-reform version of Indiana's law had applied only to adoptions finalized after 1993; the 2018 change made the opening retroactive.

The Contact Preference Form: A Birth Parent's Blocking Option

Before the adoptee's own consent controls the outcome, the state checks whether the birth parent has filed a contact preference form under IC 31-19-25-4.6. The form asks the birth parent to choose one of four options: welcome direct contact and authorize release of identifying information; prefer contact only through an intermediary and withhold direct release; prefer no contact at all and withhold authorization for release; or prefer no contact while still welcoming the state registrar to reach out about updating medical information.

The third option, no contact and no authorization of release, is the one that blocks. Under IC 31-19-25-3(c), while a contact preference form evidencing the birth parent's lack of consent to release is in effect, the state registrar, the department, a local office, a licensed child placing agency, a health care provider, the attorney who arranged the adoption, and a court may not release the birth parent's identifying information to a requesting adoptee, regardless of the adoptee's own consent on file. The form stays in effect until the birth parent files a new one, consents in writing to release, or dies, unless the form specifically states it survives the birth parent's death. It does not expire on its own.

An older category of filing still matters too. A nonrelease form that a birth parent filed before July 1, 2018, indicating a lack of consent to release, remains in effect for whatever duration the birth parent specified on the form itself, under IC 31-19-25-4.4. The state registrar must mail the birth parent a notice at least 90 days before that older form lapses, so the birth parent can file a new contact preference form if they still want to block release.

Taken together, these provisions make Indiana a compromise state rather than an unrestricted one. Since the 2018 reform the default is release once an eligible adoptee has registered and consented, but that default gives way whenever a birth parent has filed the blocking Contact Preference Form option or still has an effective pre-2018 nonrelease form on file.

Court-File Sealing

Indiana Code 31-19-13-2 provides the baseline rule: 'the original registration of birth shall be filed with the evidence of adoption and withheld from inspection except: (1) for a child adopted by a stepparent; or (2) as provided in IC 31-19-17 through IC 31-19-25.5.' A companion section, 31-19-13-4, separately requires that the replaced original certificate be sealed or surrendered to the state health department. The sealing provision itself carries no good cause court order clause: it opens only through the exceptions it names. Release therefore runs on the adoptee's own consent under Chapter 25, subject to the birth parent's blocking option described above, or through the separate court petition route in IC 31-19-24 discussed below, where good cause is one of the express statutory standards.

The Adoption History Program and the Confidential Intermediary Fallback

The Indiana Adoption History Program, established in 1988 and covering IC 31-19-18 through 31-19-25.5, functions as the umbrella that feeds the consent based release process described above. IC 31-19-24 provides a separate fallback: a court petition combined with a court appointed confidential intermediary, useful when the adoptee's own consent is not on file, for example when a birth parent or other relative initiates a search rather than the adoptee.

That route is not a matter of filing alone. Under IC 31-19-24-2(2)(B), the court appoints a confidential intermediary only after the petitioner has shown an emergency medical need, good cause relating to the welfare of the adoptee, a birth parent, or a relative of either, or an interest in having contact with a pre-adoptive sibling. The petition must also carry an affirmation setting out why release may benefit the welfare of the adoptee, a birth parent, or a relative, along with the petitioner's agreement to pay a reasonable fee for the intermediary's services. Before ordering any search, IC 31-19-24-3 requires the court to consider the privacy rights of birth parents, adoptees, and pre-adoptive siblings, the reasons the information is sought, and any irreparable harm that could follow, and then to specify which records the intermediary may search, what contact it may make, and what limits apply.

Non-Identifying Information

Non-identifying information is available to registered participants through Form 47897, the same form used to register at 18, which is a lower bar than the 21-plus threshold that governs identifying information.

How to Apply

Contact the Indiana Department of Health, Vital Records, Adoption History Program, at (317) 233-7380. Use Form 47897 to register at 18; Form 47896 to request identifying information at 21 or older; and the Contact Preference Form, State Form 56535, for a birth parent's filing, including the blocking no contact option. There is no fee for the registry itself; government photo ID is required.

This article is part of recordinglaw.com's Adoption Records by State series. For a state by state explanation of the original birth certificate concept itself, see How to Get Your Original Birth Certificate. For search strategy and honest expectations, see How to Find Birth Parents. For how mutual consent registries work across states, see Adoption Reunion Registries.

A general, non-adoption birth certificate is a different question with different rules; see Are Birth Certificates Public Records? for that distinction. Sealed adoption files also come up in Indiana's broader public records rules; see Indiana Court Records. Where a birth parent search runs into a death, see Indiana Death Records, and for a name trail after marriage or divorce, see Indiana Marriage and Divorce Records.

Disclaimer

This article explains Indiana's compromise system for adoption records access, including the adoptee consent default and the birth parent's blocking Contact Preference Form option. It is general legal information, not legal advice, and is not a substitute for a licensed Indiana attorney or the Department of Health's own guidance. Forms change; verify current requirements with the Adoption History Program before relying on them.

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Last updated: 2026-08-11. Fees and forms reflect their published status as of August 2026.