To find adoption records in Wisconsin, apply to the Department of Children and Families Adoption Records Search Program, which covers adoptions and terminations of parental rights finalized in Wisconsin. Eligible applicants can get nonidentifying information. Identifying information and the original birth certificate require consent affidavits from all known birth parents, deceased birth parents, or a court order.
Adoption records in Wisconsin are sealed. Under Wis. Stat. § 48.93, records and papers from an adoption proceeding are kept in a separate locked file and may be disclosed only as the statutes allow or by court order for good cause shown. When a person born in Wisconsin is adopted, the Vital Records Office seals the original birth certificate and issues a new one naming the adoptive parents. The DCF Adoption Records Search Program handles requests.
Eligible applicants include adult adoptees adopted in Wisconsin, adults whose birth parents’ rights were terminated in Wisconsin, adoptive parents, guardians or legal custodians, and adult children of an adoptee. You can apply online or on paper with proof of identity, and an application fee applies.
All eligible applicants may receive nonidentifying information, such as case notes, medical and genetic history, and court documents with names redacted. Adult adoptees, adults whose birth parents’ rights were terminated, and their adult children if the adoptee is deceased can receive identifying information only if all known birth parents have filed a notarized consent affidavit or are deceased. That can include current contact information and the original birth certificate. If medical information is not on file, you can ask DCF to search for the birth parents, and a search fee may apply.
Gather the adoptee’s birth date, birth name if known, and the county of the adoption. If a located birth parent refuses to provide medical information, you can ask the circuit court to order disclosure. When an adoption is granted, the court gives the adoptive parents the child’s medical record with birth parent names and addresses removed. For how adoptions are finalized, read how adoption works in Wisconsin and step-parent adoption in Wisconsin.
Renier Hotopp Law Offices helps families with adoption records in Wisconsin and related court petitions through its Wisconsin adoption attorney services. Learn more about the firm.
