To access sealed adoption records in California, you have three main options depending on what you’re looking for: request non-identifying background information directly from the California Department of Social Services or the adoption agency, use the Mutual Consent Program to swap contact details if the other party has also signed up, or file a petition in superior court to unseal the original birth certificate or the full adoption file. Each path has a different standard, and the easiest one solves most searches without ever going to court.
What’s Sealed and What Isn’t
Once an adoption decree is finalized in California, two things are locked: your original birth certificate (the one that lists your birth parents) and the entire judicial adoption file. Those records can only be opened by order of a superior court.
Non-identifying information is a different category and is not sealed in the same way. It includes birth parents’ medical history, physical descriptions, educational background, and general social history. An adult adoptee can request this directly, no court involvement required.
Requesting Non-Identifying Background Information
Write to CDSS or the licensed adoption agency that handled your adoption. Your letter needs to include your name, your date and place of birth, and your adoptive parents’ full names, and your signature has to be notarized. CDSS will not accept the request by email or fax.1California Department of Social Services. Adoptee Background Private agencies may charge a fee.
This is the fastest route and answers most medical and family-history questions without requiring you to argue a legal standard in front of a judge.
Petitioning for Your Original Birth Certificate
There’s no way to request your original birth certificate directly from the California Department of Public Health right now. You need a court order first.
You 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. The petition has to show “good and compelling cause” to unseal the record, and granting it is entirely up to the judge.2California Department of Social Services. How to Obtain Original Birth Certificate From the Superior Court
If the court grants the petition, you submit the certified order and a fee to get a copy of the certificate. It’s marked informational and can’t be used for identification. The underlying record stays sealed, so any later request means starting the court process over.3California Department of Public Health. The Adoption Process Pamphlet
One limit worth flagging: the court will only release a birth parent’s name and address if you can show that information is necessary to establish a legal right. Wanting to make contact isn’t enough on its own.
Petitioning to Open the Full Adoption Court File
Getting into the full court file is harder than getting the original birth certificate. The petition goes under Family Code section 9200, filed in the superior court where the adoption was finalized.4California Department of Social Services. California Department of Social Services – Adoption Records The court can only authorize inspection 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 standard is deliberately steep. Curiosity alone won’t meet it. The most common successful argument is medical necessity: you need specific genetic or medical history from a birth parent to diagnose or treat a serious health condition.
Even when the court grants access, the clerk provides a redacted copy. Identifying details about birth parents stay out unless you separately show they’re needed to establish a legal right. When a judge is willing to allow some disclosure but not identities, the court can appoint a confidential intermediary, often a social worker, to review the sealed records, contact the birth parents, and ask whether they consent to be identified. The intermediary is a buffer, keeping privacy intact while giving both sides the option to connect.
The Mutual Consent Program
If what you actually want is contact with a birth parent, you can skip court entirely through California’s Mutual Consent Program. It’s administered by CDSS or the licensed agency that handled the adoption, and it works only when both parties have independently signed up.6California Department of Social Services. Adoptee Make Contact
You complete a Consent for Arranging Contact form (AD 902) and submit it.7California Department of Social Services. CDSS Form AD 902 – Consent for Arranging Contact If the other party has also filed a consent form, CDSS or the agency releases an email or phone number to both sides. Adoptees have to be 18 or older to participate.
One thing to know before you count on this working: CDSS and licensed adoption agencies are prohibited by law from soliciting these consents or running searches to find the other party.6California Department of Social Services. Adoptee Make Contact Both people have to come to the program on their own. If only one consent is on file, it just sits there. No one will be notified that you’re looking.
Finding Biological Siblings
Sibling contact runs on its own track and includes half-siblings and step-siblings. There are two ways in.
The Waiver Route
Adoptees and siblings 18 or older can file a Waiver of Rights to Confidentiality for Siblings (form AD 904A) with CDSS or the agency. When both siblings have waivers on file, CDSS or the agency releases names and addresses so they can make contact directly.8California Department of Social Services. Adoptee Sibling Same rule as the mutual consent program: agencies can’t solicit these, so both people have to file on their own.
The Court Intermediary Route
If no waiver is on file from your sibling, you can petition the court under Family Code section 9205 to appoint a confidential intermediary. File Judicial Council form ADOPT-330 along with a blank order (form 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 contact would be detrimental to either sibling. That’s a much lower bar than the standard for unsealing the full adoption file. Petitioners under 18 have to file through an attorney or a court-appointed guardian.
Once appointed, the intermediary can see all adoption records for both siblings, including sealed court files. They locate the other sibling and ask whether they consent to contact. Saying no has no legal consequence for either adoption, and if the sibling declines, the intermediary cannot try again.9Judicial Branch of California. Rule 5.460. Request for Sibling Contact Information
Fee Waivers
Any of these court petitions involves filing fees. If you can’t afford them, California lets you apply for a fee waiver. You qualify if any one of these applies:10California Courts. Ask for a Fee Waiver
- You receive public benefits such as Medi-Cal, CalFresh, CalWORKs, SSI/SSP, General Assistance, or IHSS.
- Your household income is below the threshold on the Request to Waive Court Fees form (FW-001).
- You can show the court that paying the fee would keep you from meeting your household’s basic needs.
Submit the waiver request with your petition. The court may approve it, deny it, or ask for more documentation. The waiver only removes the filing cost. It doesn’t affect the legal standard you have to meet on the petition itself.
What Changes on July 1, 2028
SB 381 will change the landscape for original birth certificates. Starting July 1, 2028, adult adoptees born in California will be able to request their original birth certificate directly from the State Registrar, no court order needed, at the same standard fee and processing time as any other birth certificate.11California Legislative Information. Today’s Law As Amended – SB-381 Vital Records: Adoptees’ Birth Certificates
The same law creates a contact preference form that birth parents can file with the State Registrar. When an adoptee receives the original birth certificate, any preference on file comes with it. Birth parents choose one of three options:
- “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 form is voluntary and not legally binding. A birth parent who files nothing simply has no preference attached. Descendants of a deceased adoptee will be able to request the original birth certificate under the same process.11California Legislative Information. Today’s Law As Amended – SB-381 Vital Records: Adoptees’ Birth Certificates
Until that date, the court petition process is still the only way to get an original California birth certificate after an adoption.