Finding someone’s Birth Certificate
If you are trying to locate someone or build a set of control data about them you will definitely need a copy of their Birth Certificate and this you can easily accomplish by accessing State and County databases online. It will also facilitate an address search.
A birth record can provide an individual with a plethora of information, including the person’s full name, his or her birth date, his or her place of birth, the name of his or her mother and father (as well as the mother’s maiden name), and even the physician who attended the birth.
The Birth Certificates have been relatively widespread in usage at the State or County level since about 1900 and are typically issued, per State Law, by either State Agency or at the County Level.
There is no Federal Law governing the documentation and filing of these records, so each State enacted their own laws around the turn of the Century, but the accessing of this information is also generally specific to that State or County and is relatively easy to complete.
The Birth Certificate for an individual contains not only a wealth of information but it is rarely challenged in terms of its authenticity. They are extremely helpful in researching the total background on a search target and they are also useful in tracing that person and their relatives. In addition, birth records can allow adopted individuals to find their birth parents, as well as provide individuals with a “primary source” record when searching for the location of another individual.
As mentioned previously, birth records can typically be found through a state or local government’s vital records office. A simple visit to this office, along with a written request and a small fee, can produce the birth records for nearly any individual, provided you come armed with a certain amount of information on that individual. There are some states that require an official request for a birth record so you may have to utilize a people finder.
To find the address of your state or local vital records office, you can contact the National Center for Health Statistics by either calling them at (301) 458-4636 or by visiting www.cdc.gov/nchs.
Once you arrive at your state or local vital records office, you will need the following information:
• Full name of the person on which you are requesting the birth record
• The sex of the individual
• The parents’ names, including the mother’s maiden name
• The city of birth
• The reason for requesting the birth record
The more complete your set of qualifying data on the person the better your chances of getting the correct birth certificate. The vital records office will then likely request a small fee for performing your birth record search and for providing you with a copy of the birth record.
All states now have online databases for birth records as well. This makes the entire process of locating and obtain the birth certificate much easier than in years past. Although you must visit your local vital records office to retrieve an official paper copy of a birth record, you can use online search engines to gain valuable information on birth records for informational purposes.
If you are trying to find a person from another country you may be able to accomplish this online as well. There are also many online searchable databases that allow individuals to search for birth records from other countries. Indeed, the internet has made the process of searching for birth records quite easy.
