Washington Adoption Records: Original Birth Certificates and Sealed Files

Washington's 2013 reform (2013 c 321) gives an adult adoptee the original birth certificate on request by default, but the state's Contact Preference Form has multiple options, and only one of them actually blocks release of the certificate. Getting this precisely right matters, because the other "no contact" options on the same form still let the certificate go out.

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 Washington?

Yes, by default, for adoptions finalized after October 1, 1993. RCW 26.33.345 provides that 'the department of health shall provide a noncertified copy of the original birth certificate to an adoptee eighteen years of age or older upon request, unless the birth parent has filed an affidavit of nondisclosure before July 28, 2013, or a contact preference form that indicates he or she does not want the original birth certificate released.'

The Contact Preference Form: Only One Option Blocks Release

This is the detail worth getting exactly right. Washington's Contact Preference Form gives a birth parent several choices about how they want the relationship to work, and most of those choices do not stop the certificate from being released. A birth parent who prefers not to be contacted directly, for example, can still consent to the certificate going out; the form's consent language states, 'I give the department of health consent to provide the adoptee with a noncertified copy of his or her original birth certificate,' a box that can be checked even alongside a preference for no direct contact.

Only the specific option stating the birth parent does 'not want a noncertified copy of the original birth certificate released to the adoptee,' typically paired with a completed birth-parent updated medical history form in place of the certificate, actually blocks release. In other words, "no contact" and "no certificate" are two different choices on the same form, and only the second one stops the document from reaching the adoptee. This is a genuinely different design from Vermont's post-2023 reform, where the birth-parent nondisclosure option no longer touches the certificate at all; Washington's veto option, when selected, is a real block on the document itself, not merely on contact.

The other mechanism that can block release is older: a birth parent's affidavit of nondisclosure filed before July 28, 2013. That affidavit remains effective until the birth parent's death.

What About Adoptions Finalized Before October 1, 1993?

RCW 26.33.345 covers this cohort too, in a separate part of the same section: "For adoptions finalized on or before October 1, 1993, the department of health may not provide a noncertified copy of the original birth certificate to the adoptee until after June 30, 2014. After June 30, 2014, the department of health shall provide a noncertified copy of the original birth certificate to an adoptee eighteen years of age or older upon request, unless the birth parent has filed a contact preference form that indicates he or she does not want the original birth certificate released."

June 30, 2014 has long since passed, so a Washington adoptee whose adoption was finalized on or before October 1, 1993 gets the same default release today as a post-1993 adoptee: the certificate goes out on request unless the birth parent selected the specific Contact Preference Form option that blocks it. The statute ties the older, pre-July 28, 2013 nondisclosure-affidavit mechanism to a different part of the section, so a pre-1993 adoptee should not assume a good-cause court order is required; the default-release rule applies to this cohort too, not just to adoptions finalized after October 1993.

Court-File Sealing and the Good-Cause Standard

RCW 26.33.330 sets the general rule for the underlying court file: 'all records of any proceeding under this chapter shall be sealed and shall not be thereafter open to inspection by any person except upon order of the court for good cause shown, or except by using the procedure described in RCW 26.33.343. In determining whether good cause exists, the court shall consider any certified statement on file with the department of health as provided in RCW 26.33.347.'

Read that sentence closely, because the two cross-references do different jobs. The confidential-intermediary procedure in RCW 26.33.343 is the only alternate path this section names around the good-cause court order. RCW 26.33.347 is not a second path: it is a certified statement an adopted person over 18 may file with the Department of Health consenting to, or refusing, release of their own identifying information, and the court must weigh any such statement when it decides whether good cause exists.

The certificate-release and contact-preference machinery in RCW 26.33.345, described earlier on this page, is a separate track that RCW 26.33.330 does not mention at all. The sealed court file and the Department of Health copy of the original birth certificate are governed by different sections, so a Contact Preference Form on file with the Department of Health is not what a superior court is directed to consider under the sealing statute.

Washington's Confidential Intermediary Program

Washington runs a genuine confidential-intermediary program under RCW 26.33.343, distinct from a plain opt-in registry. An approved intermediary 'may attempt to locate members of the birth parent or adopted person's family' and must file 'an oath of confidentiality and a certificate of completion of training with the superior court of every county in which they serve as intermediaries.' This is a trained, court-certified search service, not simply a signup list waiting for a match.

How to Request an Original Birth Certificate in Washington

The Washington State Department of Health, Center for Health Statistics, processes requests. As of August 2026:

• Form: "Adoptee's Request for Original Birth Certificate from a Sealed File" (DOH 422-102).
• Fee: $20.00 per copy, non-refundable.
• Identification: a current state-issued photo ID or passport.
• Where: Attn: Adoptions, Center for Health Statistics, PO Box 9709, Olympia, WA 98507-9709.
• Timing: the department notes that sealed files are not located in its office, so the process may take several weeks or more.

Non-Identifying Information

Washington has a dedicated statute for this. RCW 26.33.340 makes department, agency, and court adoption files confidential 'except that reasonably available nonidentifying information may be disclosed upon the written request for the information from the adoptive parent, the adoptee, or the birth parent.' Three categories of people can therefore ask, and the request has to be in writing.

The same section gives that request some teeth. If the adoption facilitator refuses to disclose nonidentifying information, the statute provides that 'the individual may petition the superior court.' A refusal is not the end of the road.

RCW 26.33.340 also draws the line that matters most in practice. Nonidentifying information moves on a written request; identifying information does not, and may be disclosed only 'through the procedure described in RCW 26.33.343,' the confidential-intermediary program described above. So a written request to the agency or independent facilitator that handled the adoption is the right first step for background information such as medical history, but it will not produce names or addresses.

Direct the written request to the adoption facilitator that holds the file rather than to the Department of Health, which holds the birth certificate rather than the case record.

Finding Birth Parents in Washington

Because most post-1993 Washington adoptees can get the original birth certificate directly, that document is often the best starting point for a search, alongside the confidential-intermediary program for a more active search. RecordingLaw's guide to finding birth parents covers non-identifying information, intermediary searches, DNA testing, and search etiquette, 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. Washington readers may also find Washington death records and Washington court records useful for related family-history research.

Disclaimer

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

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