- Nebraska law (section 43-124. revised in 1994) mandates that the Bureau of Vital
Statistics shall provide forms to birth parents by which consent can be given to allow the Bureau to release the adopted person’s original birth certificate.
- This law also mandates that an Adopted Person can file with the Bureau a “Request
for Access to Birth Information.” If a consent from birth parents has been filed with the Bureau, the Bureau will release the adopted person’s original birth certificate, and the address or addresses of the birth parent(s). (Often, birth fathers are not listed on original birth certificates; however, if a birth father’s name is on the certificate, he also must sign a consent.)
- The statute requires that a $10.00 fee must accompany the request. The check must be made out to the Bureau of Vital Statistics.
- Nebraska law states that, if birth parents have not filed a consent, the agency which placed the adoptee may make a reasonable search for the birth parent and inquire regarding his/her openness to signing the consent.
- Nebraska law (section 43-124 revised statutes) provides for biological sibling reunions. If siblings, or half siblings, file a consent for Release of Information, the Bureau of Vital Statistics can release the names of their sibling, provided the
adopted sibling is 25 years of age.
- In some cases, birth parents are very difficult to locate. Birth mothers often marry and have new names. If a birth parent is married in Nebraska, and the adoptee’s Request for Access is filed, the Bureau of Vital Statistics, for a fee, will provide the agency with a copy of the marriage license; the Bureau will also make a search for divorce or death records. Your caseworker will inform you if this is warranted and will ask you to send a check for $9.00, again made out to the Bureau of Vital Statistics.
- For those adoptees relinquished before September 1, 1988, Nebraska law does not allow the release of the original birth certificate until the adoptee reaches 25 years of age. For adoptees relinquished after September 1, 1988, the law allows the release of the original birth certificate when the adoptee reaches age 21, unless the birth parents sign a non-consent form.
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