Arkansas Adoption Records: The Administrative Path to Your Original Birth Certificate

Arkansas Code § 20-18-406 reads, on its face, like a court-order state: it says the original birth certificate is not subject to inspection except upon order of an Arkansas court, or as provided by rule or under § 9-9-803. That last clause is the one that matters. Since 2018, adult adoptees 21 and older have been able to request their adoption file directly from the Arkansas Department of Health, administratively, without going to court.

That makes Arkansas a compromise state built around a notarized administrative request, not a true restricted, court-order-only state. This page covers how that process works, the birth-parent redaction option that comes with it, and Arkansas's separate Voluntary Adoption Registry.

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

Can an Adult Adoptee Get an Original Birth Certificate in Arkansas?

In practice, yes, without a court order, through an administrative process rather than the default court-order path named in the statute's main text. Ark. Code § 20-18-406 provides that the original certificate of birth shall not be subject to inspection except upon order of an Arkansas court of competent jurisdiction or as provided by rule or under § 9-9-803. It is that cross-reference to § 9-9-803, combined with Act 519 (signed March 2017, with the administrative request path effective for requests starting August 1, 2018), that creates the direct-access route.

Under that path, an adult adoptee who is at least 21 submits a notarized written request, with proof of identity, to the Arkansas Department of Health. According to the department's own published figures, since May 2018 hundreds of adoptees have used this process, with redaction requests from birth parents being the minority choice rather than the norm.

How to Request Your Adoption File

The Arkansas Department of Health's page for this process describes a notarized written request plus identity documentation, without naming a separately numbered form. The fee is $100, non-refundable, as of August 2026. Requests go to the Arkansas Department of Health, Vital Records Department, State Registrar, 4815 West Markham Street, Slot 44, Little Rock, AR 72205, phone 1-800-462-0599, email adh.vitalrecords@arkansas.gov.

Birth-Parent Redaction, Not a Veto

A birth parent may separately submit a notarized request asking the department to redact, or withhold, their own name from the file the adoptee receives. This is meaningfully different from a full disclosure veto used in some other states: the adoptee still gets the file itself, just with that one name removed rather than the whole record withheld.

A birth parent can also indicate a contact preference, direct, third-party, or no-contact, at the same time. The Department of Health is explicit that it cannot guarantee compliance with a stated preference; it records and passes the preference along rather than enforcing it against the adoptee.

The Sealed Adoption Court File

Separately from the administrative adoption-file request above, Arkansas's court record of the adoption proceeding is handled under Ark. Code § 9-9-217, which governs how the adoption file transfers between court clerks and how it is subsequently handled. The version of this statute reviewed for this article comes from an older archived mirror of the Arkansas Code; readers relying on a specific subsection or procedural detail from the court-file statute, as opposed to the Department of Health's administrative process described above, should confirm current text directly with the Arkansas Department of Health or the Arkansas Code as currently published.

Voluntary Adoption Registry

Arkansas separately runs a Voluntary Adoption Registry under Ark. Code §§ 9-9-501 to 9-9-511. The adult adoptee, each birth parent, and any individual related within the second degree may voluntarily place their name in the registry by submitting a notarized affidavit. A match occurs only when the relevant parties have each registered, and reunion or contact through the registry is never guaranteed, some searches end without a match or without a welcome response.

Related Arkansas Records

See Arkansas death records for locating a deceased birth parent's record, Arkansas court records for the state's broader court-records rules, and Arkansas marriage and divorce records for tracing a name change. For the general difference between a standard and an original birth certificate, see are birth certificates public records. For the national landscape and search strategy, see how to get your original birth certificate, how to find birth parents, and adoption reunion registries.

Disclaimer

This article provides general information about Arkansas adoption-records law. It is not legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Fees, forms, and office contact information change; verify current details with the Arkansas Department of Health or a licensed Arkansas attorney before relying on anything here for a specific situation. Registry matches and search outcomes are not guaranteed, and some searches end without contact or a welcome response.

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