A Moment in History for Adoptees
A Moment in History
As of July 1, 2026 persons adopted in Virginia can now access their original birth certificates
I recently visited the Office of Vital Records in Richmond, Virginia, to obtain a birth certificate for one of our infant placements. I expected a quick task but instead, I witnessed a moment of history.
The building was filled with adoptees who had come for the very same reason. They ranged from what looked like their mid-20s to well into their 70s. Some stood outside smiling as they held their original birth certificates for the very first time, posing for photos to commemorate the occasion. Others embraced one another, celebrating loudly after years, sometimes decades, of waiting. One person was changing part of their name back to the one they had been given at birth.
These weren't simply government documents. They were pieces of identity. Pieces of history. Pieces of stories that had always existed, even when they were legally inaccessible.
As of July 1, 2026, Virginia joined 15 other US states who allow adoptees unrestricted access to their birth certificates. Virginia's House Bill 301 established a new process allowing adoptees who are 18 years of age or older to request and receive their original birth certificate. This marks a significant shift in Virginia adoption law and follows years of advocacy from adoptees, adoptive families, birth families, and adoption organizations—including ours. Since 1976, most Virginia adoptees have been unable to access their original birth certificates, a right that has long been available to the general population. Virginia is now the 17th state in the U.S. to grant this access to adoptees.
Watching adoptees walk out of that building with tears, laughter, photographs, and certificates in hand was a powerful reminder that this legislation is about far more than paperwork. For many, it represents access to a part of their own story that has been hidden behind legal barriers for decades. For adoptees, this is a step towards dignity, equality, and truth.
We celebrate this change alongside the adoptee community. An original birth certificate cannot answer every question or heal every wound, but it can restore access to something deeply personal. It acknowledges that an adoptee's story did not begin at adoption—it began at birth. Every person deserves the opportunity to know, hold, and honor that part of their history.
From the voice of an adoptee who was able to receive their original birth certificate for the first time :
“We reassured each other that we were, in fact, born.
That there was, at some point, a record of our arrival on this planet.
That sounds ridiculous to anyone who isn't adopted.
But adoptees understand.
Adoption can do strange things to your sense of identity. When your original records have been sealed, altered, withheld, or made inaccessible for decades, there are moments when you begin to question things that other people never have to question.
Most people never wonder whether the most basic facts of their existence are documented somewhere. They never have to fight for proof of their own beginning.
Adoptees do.
And sometimes, even as normal, sane, educated, successful adults, we find ourselves needing another adoptee to look us in the eye and say, "You exist. Your story is real. Your life began somewhere. And you have every right to know the truth about it."
Nobody really understands moments like this quite the way another adoptee does.”
This blog was written by PAS Case Worker, Mikayla Jeanty
Resources
Adoptee Rights Law Center. (2026, May 13). Virginia's new original birth records law (FAQ). https://adopteerightslaw.com/virginia-original-birth-records-obc-law-faq/
WSET. (2026, July 1). House Bill 301 takes effect in Virginia, ending 50 years of limits on adoptee birth records. https://wset.com/news/local/house-bill-301-takes-effect-in-va-ending-50-years-of-limits-on-adoptee-birth-records-virginia-wendell-walker-adoption-vdh-office-vital-records-mark-spain-july-2026
Virginia Department of Health. (2026). Frequently asked questions: Vital records. https://www.vdh.virginia.gov/vital-records/frequently-asked-questions/