Vermont Adoption Records: Original Birth Certificates and Sealed Files

Vermont opened its adult adoptees' original birth certificates on July 1, 2023, and the reform matters more than a passing mention: some older, secondary sources still describe Vermont as a birth-parent-veto state. That description is now out of date. Under current law, an adult adoptee gets their original birth certificate on request, with no birth-parent consent, veto, or court-order step standing in the way of the certificate itself.

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

Can an Adult Adoptee Get Their Original Birth Certificate in Vermont?

Yes, and as of Vermont's 2023 reform, this is a direct, largely unconditional right for the adoptee. 15A V.S.A. 6-107 states that a certified copy of an adoptee's original birth certificate 'shall be released to persons identified in subsection 6-105(a) of this title upon request.' That persons list covers an adoptee 18 or older, an emancipated adoptee, a deceased adoptee's direct descendant who is 18 or older, or the parent or guardian of a direct descendant who is less than 18. The statute's own history note confirms the effective date: July 1, 2023, as amended by 2021 Act No. 100 (Adj. Sess.), Sec. 5.

This reform is easy to misread if you only look at 6-105(a) in isolation, because that subsection opens with the words "Unless a former parent has filed a request for nondisclosure." The key structural point is that 6-107 pulls only the persons list from 6-105(a), not that nondisclosure condition. Be clear about who the nondisclosure actually burdens: it gates the release of identifying information about a former parent through the Registry, and the adoptee is the first person named in 6-105(a), so the restriction reaches the adoptee directly.

15A V.S.A. 6-106 settles the overlap in plain terms. If a former parent filed a request for nondisclosure before July 1, 2023, that request is still honored and a request for identifying information under 6-105 "shall be denied." But the same section adds that it "shall not be interpreted to interfere with a person's right to obtain a copy of an original birth certificate pursuant to section 6-107 of this title." So an adoptee facing a legacy nondisclosure filing can still be turned down for the broader identifying-information file while still receiving the original birth certificate.

Because 6-106 honors only requests filed before July 1, 2023, no new nondisclosure request can be filed. The filings that remain are grandfathered legacy requests, and their number can only shrink.

Vermont's Contact Preference Form

15A V.S.A. 6-107 also builds in an optional Contact Preference Form. Under its subsections (c) through (e), a person listed as a parent on the adoptee's original birth certificate "may file" a form with the Registry indicating whether they want contact, prefer no contact, or want contact only through an intermediary. The Registry keeps the filed form confidential and releases only the indicated preference to the adoptee, typically alongside the certificate itself. Filing this form, or not filing it, does not change whether the certificate is released; it is purely informational, unlike Washington's Contact Preference Form, which has an option that genuinely blocks release.

Why the "Birth-Parent Veto" Framing Is Outdated

Before July 2023, older commentary described Vermont as retaining a birth-parent veto over adoption records. That characterization was accurate for the law as it stood before the reform, but it is not accurate today. Readers who encounter that framing elsewhere, including in older secondary sources, should treat it as describing Vermont's prior law, not its current law. This article describes the current, post-2023 rule.

The Default Sealing Rule and How the Adoptee's Right Fits In

Vermont's baseline privacy rule runs on a 99-year clock measured from the adoptee's birth. Under 15A V.S.A. 6-102(d), adoption records are "retained permanently and kept confidential for 99 years after the date of the adoptee's birth," and 6-107(b) directs the Department of Health to unseal the original certificate once "99 years have elapsed after the date of birth of an adoptee whose original birth certificate is sealed under this title."

A narrower provision, 15A V.S.A. 3-802(c), applies the same clock to the paper file when a new or amended certificate replaces the original. For birth certificates registered before July 1, 2019, it directs that "the original certificate and all copies of the certificate in the files shall be sealed and shall not be subject to inspection or copying until 99 years after the adoptee's date of birth." Note the trigger in all three provisions: the adoptee's date of birth, not the date the adoptee reaches any particular age.

This 99-year seal is not in conflict with the adoptee's own release right under 6-107; the two provisions work together. The 99-year rule sets the default privacy position against the world, while 6-107 is Vermont's adoptee-specific carve-out from that default, letting the adoptee access their own certificate decades before the general period runs.

Vermont's Adoption Registry

Vermont's Registry, a capitalized term used throughout Chapter 6 of Title 15A, functions as the state's disclosure mechanism for identifying information more broadly, covering parents, siblings, and descendants, rather than as a standalone opt-in matching registry in the more common sense used by other states. Because 6-106 protects the adoptee's original birth certificate regardless of any nondisclosure filing, the Registry today mainly matters for identifying-information requests outside that direct certificate right.

Two of those tracks involve siblings, and they run in opposite directions. Under 6-105(g), the Registry discloses identifying information about a sibling to the adoptee if both are 18 or older and the sibling consents. Under 6-105(d), with an adult adoptee's consent, the Registry discloses information about the adoptee to the adoptee's former parent or to the adoptee's sibling who is 18 or older. Neither track gives a sibling identifying information about a birth parent. The Department of Health directs adoptees and descendants to the Registry for any additional information they may be eligible to receive beyond the certificate itself.

How to Request an Original Birth Certificate in Vermont

The Vermont Department of Health processes original birth certificate requests. As of August 2026:

• Fee: $10.00, payable by check or money order to the Vermont Department of Health.
• Notarization: the application must be signed in the presence of a notary public.
• Supporting documents: a copy of the adoptee's current (amended) birth certificate; if a deceased adoptee's descendant is applying, a death certificate for the adoptee is also required.
• Where: the application and instructions are available through the Vermont Department of Health's vital records office (healthvermont.gov).

Non-Identifying Information

Vermont's Department of Health page points adoptees and descendants to the Registry for additional information they may be eligible to receive, which functions as Vermont's channel for non-identifying background information as well as identifying information about other relatives.

Finding Birth Parents in Vermont

Because Vermont's original birth certificate is now available directly, that document is frequently the fastest lead for a Vermont adoptee researching their birth family, since it names the birth parent as of the time of the adoption. RecordingLaw's guide to finding birth parents covers non-identifying information, the Registry, DNA testing, and search etiquette in more depth, and is upfront that not every search leads to contact or a welcoming response.

For the national framework, see the Adoption Records by State hub and the guide to getting an original birth certificate. Vermont readers may also find Vermont death records and Vermont court records useful for related family-history research.

Disclaimer

This article provides general legal information about adoption records law in Vermont. It is not legal advice and does not substitute for consultation with a licensed Vermont attorney. Statutes, forms, and fees can change; the information here was last verified on 2026-08-11.

---

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