Adoption Search

Do you want to find your birth family? If you are an adoptee in Wisconsin, and you are 18 years of age or older, you may be able to conduct a search to find information about yourself and your birth relatives.

Here's the information you may be able to find:

At age 18:

Medical and genetic information about birth parents and members of their families
Most recent names and address of birth parents in Dept. of Health and Family Services files
Copy of impounded birth certificate (the birth certificate on record prior to the time of adoption)
Case notes from your adoption

Here's how it works:

As of April, 2006, the age at which an adopted person may request a search for birth parents changed from age 21 to age 18. At age 18, an adopted person may request medical/genetic information, social history information, the identify of his/her birth parents and a copy of his/her impounded birth certificate.
Adoptive parents may request medical/genetic information and non-identifying social history information about their adopted child’s birth relatives.

Birth Parent/Sibling Searches

There is no statutory provision for birth parents to request a search for their birth children.

The current adoption search law does NOT allow siblings to request searches for each other. Some medical information about siblings may be included in the non-identifying social history record.

A birth parent or sibling may request that an adoptee be found and provided with updated medical or genetic information to notify them of a genetically transferable disease or condition.

For more information on this program or to request an applicaiton packet, call or write:

Adoption Records Search Program
P.O. Box 8916
Madison, WI 53708-8916
(608) 266-7163

Wisconsin’s Adoption Record Search law is found in sections 48.432 and 48.433, Wis. Stats. It became effective in May, 1982 and was revised in 1984, 1989, 1995 and 2006.