Maine
Maine Adoption Records: Original Birth Certificates and the Adoption Reunion Registry
Maine gives adult adoptees direct access to the original birth certificate, no court order required, and it has run a separate reunion registry since 1979 that operates alongside that direct-access right rather than replacing it.
This page covers the direct-request process under 22 MRS 2768, the court-file confidentiality rule that carves out that request, and how the Adoption Reunion Registry works for adoptees, birth parents, and other eligible relatives.
Information last verified on 2026-08-11. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.
How to Get Your Original Birth Certificate in Maine
Under 22 MRS 2768, once the state registrar receives 'the written application and proof of identification' from an eligible adoptee, the registrar 'shall issue a noncertified copy of the unaltered original certificate of birth to the applicant.' The right belongs to any adult adopted person, 18 or older, who was born in Maine, and to descendants of a deceased adopted person. No court petition, no judicial finding, and no birth-parent consent or veto stands between the request and the copy.
Maine adopted this rule in 2007, under PL 2007 c.409, considerably earlier than the wave of similar reforms many other states passed roughly between 2016 and 2025. That timing matters for a reader comparing states: Maine is not a recent convert to direct access, it has operated this way for close to two decades.
The application is the Application for Original Birth Certificate Before Adoption, filed with Maine's Data, Research and Vital Statistics unit. A modest processing fee applies. Confirm the current fee and any updated form directly with the Vital Records Unit before applying, since the specific dollar figure was not independently confirmed from a cleanly readable source for this article.
Why the Court File Being Sealed Doesn't Block This
Separately from the birth certificate itself, 18-C MRS 9-310 provides that court records for any Maine adoption decreed on or after August 8, 1953 are confidential, and the court must keep those adoption records 'segregated from all other court records.' Read alone, that could sound like it blocks the original-birth-certificate request described above. It does not: the statute expressly excepts 22 MRS 2768, the direct-access birth-certificate right, from its confidentiality rule. The two provisions are written to work together, not against each other. One structural note worth flagging for anyone looking up the statute directly: Maine's adoption chapter sits in Title 18-C, Article 9, Part 3, not Part 2 (which covers parentage and termination proceedings), so it is worth double-checking the Part number, not just the article number, when citing Maine's adoption-confidentiality rule.
Maine's Adoption Reunion Registry
Maine has operated the Adoption Reunion Registry since 1979, administered by the State Registrar of Vital Statistics. Maine's own description states plainly that 'Maine's Adoption Reunion Registry is the only official registry for people born or adopted in the State of Maine authorized to access sealed information.'
The registry works on a passive mutual-consent model. Non-identifying information can be released without both parties' consent. Identifying information requires everyone involved to register and consent before it is shared. When an adoptee registers, medical information from the birth parents is shared as part of that process. Eligible registrants include adopted adults 18 and older, birth parents, adoptive parents acting for a minor, legal guardians, and certain biological relatives, including siblings and the family of a deceased birth parent.
Because the direct-access statute above already gives an adult adoptee the original birth certificate without registering for anything, the registry's real value is different: it is the path for identifying contact with a birth parent or relative, and for medical history sharing, not simply for the document itself. Maine's registry has kept operating even after direct OBC access opened, unlike some states where a registry effectively went dormant once a more direct statute took its place; the two systems in Maine run side by side.
Non-Identifying Information
Non-identifying information can be released through the Adoption Reunion Registry without requiring both sides to consent, as described above. Maine law also references a contact-preference and medical-history form that can accompany a birth-certificate release; readers with a specific medical-history question should raise it directly with the Vital Records Unit when applying.
How to Apply
For the original birth certificate, contact Maine's Data, Research and Vital Statistics, Vital Records Unit, at 220 Capitol Street, State House Station 11, Augusta, ME 04333-0011, using the Application for Original Birth Certificate Before Adoption. For the Adoption Reunion Registry, registration is handled through the same State Registrar of Vital Statistics office; contact the Vital Records Unit directly for current registration materials, since the registry's own governing statute number was not independently confirmed in clean, quotable text for this article.
Related Maine Records
See Maine court records for how the state's broader sealed and public court-file rules work, and Maine death records and Maine marriage and divorce records for related vital records. For the general question of who can get an ordinary Maine birth certificate versus the original, pre-adoption version described here, see are birth certificates public records? For the nationwide picture, start at Adoption Records by State, or go directly to how to get your original birth certificate, how to find birth parents, and adoption reunion registries.
Disclaimer
This article is general legal information about Maine's adoption-records statutes and is not legal advice. Statutes, forms, and agency procedures can change. Confirm current requirements with Maine's Vital Records Unit or a licensed Maine attorney for advice on a specific situation.
Last updated: 2026-08-11. Fees and forms reflect their published status as of August 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can a Maine adoptee get their original birth certificate without a court order?
Yes. Any adult adoptee, 18 or older, born in Maine, can request a noncertified copy directly from the state registrar under 22 MRS 2768. No court petition is required.
When did Maine open direct access to original birth certificates?
2007, under PL 2007 c.409, well before the broader multistate reform wave of the late 2010s and 2020s.
Does Maine still have an adoption registry if adoptees can already get their birth certificate directly?
Yes. Maine's Adoption Reunion Registry, running since 1979, operates alongside the direct-access statute rather than being replaced by it. It is the path for identifying contact between adoptees, birth parents, and eligible relatives, plus medical-history sharing.
How does Maine's Adoption Reunion Registry work?
It is a mutual-consent system. Non-identifying information can be released without both sides consenting. Identifying information requires every involved party to register and agree before it is shared.
Who can register with Maine's Adoption Reunion Registry?
Adopted adults 18 and older, birth parents, adoptive parents acting for a minor, legal guardians, and certain biological relatives, including siblings and the family of a deceased birth parent.
Are Maine adoption court records public?
No. Court records for adoptions decreed on or after August 8, 1953 are confidential under 18-C MRS 9-310 and kept segregated from other court records, though that confidentiality rule specifically does not block the separate original-birth-certificate right.
Updates
Governing law re-checked for recent changes
Independently fact-checked against the cited primary sources
The Law Behind This Article
This article rests on 2 statutory provisions held in our own legal record, each retrieved from the official source. Tap a section to read the operative text.
Maine Revised Statutes, Title 18-C: PROBATE CODE, Part 3: ADOPTION PROCEDURES
§ 9-310Records confidentialIn force
Notwithstanding any other provision of law and except as provided in Title 22, section 2768, all court records relating to an adoption decreed on or after August 8, 1953 are confidential. The court shall keep records of those adoptions segregated from all other court records. If a court determines that examination of records pertaining to a particular adoption is proper, the court may authorize that examination by specified persons, authorize the register to disclose to specified persons any information contained in the records by letter, certificate or copy of the record or authorize a combination of both examination and disclosure. [PL 2017, c. 402, Pt. A, §2 (NEW); PL 2019, c. 417, Pt. B, §14 (AFF).] Any medical or genetic information in the court records relating to an adoption must be made available to the adopted child when the adopted child attains 18 years of age and to the adopted child's descendants, adoptive parents or legal guardian on petition of the court. [PL 2017, c. 402, Pt. A, §2 (NEW); PL 2019, c. 417, Pt. B, §14 (AFF).]
Official text (excerpt) · as of 2026-07-30 · Read the full section at legislature.maine.gov
Maine Revised Statutes, Title 22: HEALTH AND WELFARE, Part 6: BIRTHS, MARRIAGES AND DEATHS, Chapter 703: BIRTH RECORDS
§ 2768Access to original birth certificate by adopted personIn force
An adopted person, the adopted person's attorney or, if the adopted person is deceased, the adopted person's descendants may obtain a copy of that person's original certificate of birth from the State Registrar of Vital Statistics, referred to in this section as "the state registrar," in accordance with this section. [PL 2007, c. 409, §4 (NEW); PL 2007, c. 409, §6 (AFF).] 1. Requirements. The adopted person must be at least 18 years of age and have been born in this State. 2. Application. The adopted person must file a written application with and provide appropriate proof of identification to the state registrar. 3. Issuance of birth certificate and forms. Upon receipt of the written application and proof of identification pursuant to subsection 2 and fulfillment of the requirements of subsection 4, the state registrar shall issue a noncertified copy of the unaltered original certificate of birth to the applicant. If a contact preference or medical history form has been completed and submitted to the state registrar pursuant to section 2769, the state registrar also must provide that information. 4. Fees; waiting period.
Official text (excerpt) · as of 2026-07-30 · Read the full section at legislature.maine.gov
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Sources and References
- Maine Revised Statutes Title 22, Section 2768, Adopted Persons; Original Certificate of Birth(legislature.maine.gov).gov
- Maine Revised Statutes Title 18-C, Section 9-310, Confidentiality of Records(legislature.maine.gov).gov
- Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Adoption Records and the State of Maine Adoption Reunion Registry(maine.gov).gov
- Maine Department of Health and Human Services, Vital Records(maine.gov).gov