Georgia Adoption Records: Andee's Law and the Original Birth Certificate

Georgia changed dramatically on July 1, 2025. Senate Bill 100, known as Andee's Law, amended O.C.G.A. 31-10-14 to let an adult adoptee request their own original, pre-adoption birth certificate directly from the State Office of Vital Records, without a court order. That reclassifies Georgia's original birth certificate (OBC) access from a restricted, court-only model to a direct request model. The adoption court FILE itself, meaning the petition, decree, and agency case record, is governed by a separate statute and remains sealed.

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

Georgia's New Direct Request Path to the Original Birth Certificate

Before Andee's Law, an adult adoptee generally needed a court order to see their own original birth certificate. Senate Bill 100 changed that specifically for the birth certificate itself, amending O.C.G.A. 31-10-14 so that adults born in Georgia who are 18 or older can request copies of their original birth certificate directly, effective July 1, 2025. Two official Georgia government sources confirm the change independently:

'Adults born in Georgia who are 18 or older can request copies [of their original birth certificate]... Senate Bill 100 became effective July 1, 2025, enabling this access.' (georgia.gov)

'Effective July 1, 2025, Andee's Law (SB 100) allows Georgia-born individuals aged 18+ to request uncertified copies of original birth certificates.' (dph.georgia.gov)

The request goes through ROVER, the state's online vital records request system, and costs $25. Because the underlying record is sealed and must be retrieved manually rather than pulled from the standard birth index, there is no pen and ink paper option and no expedited processing for this specific record type. If the adoptee has died, their parents, siblings, or direct line descendants, meaning children or grandchildren, may apply with proof of relationship and a copy of the death certificate.

The Adoption Court File Is Still Sealed

Andee's Law amended only the vital records statute, 31-10-14. It did not touch O.C.G.A. 19-8-23, the separate statute governing the adoption court file itself, meaning the petition, the final decree, and any Department of Human Services or agency social history record. That file remains sealed. News coverage of SB 100 states plainly that court adoption records, social histories, and Department of Human Services files remain sealed and require legal assistance to access, consistent with the bill touching only the vital records statute.

Georgia's court file statute has historically read: 'all of such court records, including the docket book, that relate in any manner to the adoption shall be kept sealed and locked,' opening only 'after written petition... [when] the court has entered an order permitting such examination.' Where the person seeking to examine the file is someone other than the adoptee, a minimum 60 day notice and hearing procedure protects the adoptive parents. Georgia's live code sits behind a paywalled legal database, so the exact current subsection wording was not independently re-read for this article; the substance above should be confirmed against the current code or with a Georgia attorney before relying on it for a specific filing.

The Georgia Adoption Reunion Registry (GARR)

Georgia has run a mutual consent reunion registry since 1990. Until July 1, 2025 it was operated by the nonprofit Families First under contract with the Department of Human Services; oversight then transitioned directly to the Department, on the same date Andee's Law took effect. GARR provides two things: non-identifying information from the sealed adoption record without a court order, available to an adult adoptee or to the adoptive parent of an adoptee under 18, and mutual consent contact facilitation, connecting an adoptee with a birth parent who has also registered and consented, or connecting adult siblings where at least one is an adoptee. Birth parents and siblings can register either a willingness to be contacted or an explicit no contact preference. A fee applies, referenced in GARR's own materials, though the specific amount was not listed on either opened source page.

Non-Identifying Information

An adult adoptee, or the adoptive parent of an adoptee under 18, can request non-identifying information from GARR without a court order. This is separate from, and does not require, the ROVER birth certificate request or a 19-8-23 court petition.

How to Apply

For the original birth certificate: apply online only through ROVER, the Georgia Department of Public Health's vital records request system. The fee is $25 per copy; processing has run 8 to 10 weeks. County registrars cannot fulfill this request.

For the sealed court file: this requires a written petition to the court that handled the adoption; because it involves legal notice and hearing requirements, consulting a Georgia attorney is advisable.

For the reunion registry: contact the Georgia Adoption Reunion Registry, now overseen by the Department of Human Services.

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 Georgia's broader public records rules; see Georgia Court Records. Where a birth parent search runs into a death, see Georgia Death Records, and for a name trail after marriage or divorce, see Georgia Marriage and Divorce Records.

Disclaimer

This article explains Georgia's rules for adoption records following the 2025 enactment of Andee's Law. It is general legal information, not legal advice, and is not a substitute for a licensed Georgia attorney. Georgia's underlying code sections sit behind a subscription legal database, so verify current statutory text with a Georgia attorney or the courts before relying on it for a specific filing. Fees and processes change; confirm current details with the Department of Public Health or GARR.

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