End the Arizona Adoptee Birth Certificate Access Ban
The Issue
For: Arizona State Legislature & Governor of Arizona
PETITION
Right now, thousands of Arizona-born adoptees are legally denied access to their own original birth certificates.
In 2022, Arizona passed a law that was supposed to expand access. Instead, it created a new exclusion that leaves adoptees born between June 20, 1968, and September 28, 2021 unable to obtain their original birth certificates without a court order. As a result, many Arizona adoptees remain legally blocked from accessing the document that records their own birth.
That means going before a judge. Proving a "compelling need." Paying legal fees. Fighting for a document that every non-adopted person receives automatically.
This is not equal access. It is a barrier that applies only to adoptees.
An original birth certificate is more than a piece of paper. It contains the names of a person's biological parents, place of birth, and information that can help connect adoptees to their family history and identity. For BIPOC and transracial adoptees, it may also be one of the few official documents linking them to their cultural and ethnic heritage. Access to accurate family information can also support informed healthcare decisions throughout life.
Consumer DNA testing has fundamentally changed expectations of anonymity. Today, many adoptees are reconnecting with biological relatives through DNA databases rather than through transparent legal processes. Continuing to withhold original birth certificates no longer serves the purpose these laws were once intended to achieve. Instead, it places unnecessary barriers between adoptees and information about their own lives.
We know this can be fixed because Minnesota did it. As of July 1, 2024, every Minnesota adoptee age 18 and older can request their original birth certificate directly from the state without obtaining a court order. Arizona can do the same.
We, the undersigned, call upon the Arizona State Legislature to:
- Introduce legislation granting all Arizona-born adoptees unrestricted access to their original birth certificates beginning at age 18.
- Eliminate the requirement for court orders or "compelling need" petitions to obtain an original birth certificate.
- Use Minnesota's 2024 law as a model for restoring equal access.
- Ensure adoptees—including BIPOC and transracial adoptees—are meaningfully represented throughout the legislative process.
Our original birth certificates are records of our own births. We should not have to ask permission to access them.
Sign this petition if you believe every adoptee deserves equal access to their identity.
Why I Started This Petition
I am an adoptee.
When I requested my original birth certificate at 19, I was told to come back at 21. Life moved on. During those years, I was living with undiagnosed PMDD and undiagnosed AuDHD, believing something was simply wrong with me.
Years later, I took an AncestryDNA test. With the help of a volunteer Search Angel and DNA Detective, I pieced together my own story. Arizona's system did not help me. I had to find my own identity through strangers who donated their time because the system would not provide the records that belonged to me.
My story is not unique.
No adoptee should have to spend years searching for pieces of their own identity. No adoptee should have to depend on DNA testing, volunteers, or a judge to access the truth about their own birth.
This petition is for every adoptee who is still waiting, still searching, and still being told that the record of their own birth does not belong to them.
— Kaila Powell
Founder, Voices4Justice™
Phoenix, Arizona
3
The Issue
For: Arizona State Legislature & Governor of Arizona
PETITION
Right now, thousands of Arizona-born adoptees are legally denied access to their own original birth certificates.
In 2022, Arizona passed a law that was supposed to expand access. Instead, it created a new exclusion that leaves adoptees born between June 20, 1968, and September 28, 2021 unable to obtain their original birth certificates without a court order. As a result, many Arizona adoptees remain legally blocked from accessing the document that records their own birth.
That means going before a judge. Proving a "compelling need." Paying legal fees. Fighting for a document that every non-adopted person receives automatically.
This is not equal access. It is a barrier that applies only to adoptees.
An original birth certificate is more than a piece of paper. It contains the names of a person's biological parents, place of birth, and information that can help connect adoptees to their family history and identity. For BIPOC and transracial adoptees, it may also be one of the few official documents linking them to their cultural and ethnic heritage. Access to accurate family information can also support informed healthcare decisions throughout life.
Consumer DNA testing has fundamentally changed expectations of anonymity. Today, many adoptees are reconnecting with biological relatives through DNA databases rather than through transparent legal processes. Continuing to withhold original birth certificates no longer serves the purpose these laws were once intended to achieve. Instead, it places unnecessary barriers between adoptees and information about their own lives.
We know this can be fixed because Minnesota did it. As of July 1, 2024, every Minnesota adoptee age 18 and older can request their original birth certificate directly from the state without obtaining a court order. Arizona can do the same.
We, the undersigned, call upon the Arizona State Legislature to:
- Introduce legislation granting all Arizona-born adoptees unrestricted access to their original birth certificates beginning at age 18.
- Eliminate the requirement for court orders or "compelling need" petitions to obtain an original birth certificate.
- Use Minnesota's 2024 law as a model for restoring equal access.
- Ensure adoptees—including BIPOC and transracial adoptees—are meaningfully represented throughout the legislative process.
Our original birth certificates are records of our own births. We should not have to ask permission to access them.
Sign this petition if you believe every adoptee deserves equal access to their identity.
Why I Started This Petition
I am an adoptee.
When I requested my original birth certificate at 19, I was told to come back at 21. Life moved on. During those years, I was living with undiagnosed PMDD and undiagnosed AuDHD, believing something was simply wrong with me.
Years later, I took an AncestryDNA test. With the help of a volunteer Search Angel and DNA Detective, I pieced together my own story. Arizona's system did not help me. I had to find my own identity through strangers who donated their time because the system would not provide the records that belonged to me.
My story is not unique.
No adoptee should have to spend years searching for pieces of their own identity. No adoptee should have to depend on DNA testing, volunteers, or a judge to access the truth about their own birth.
This petition is for every adoptee who is still waiting, still searching, and still being told that the record of their own birth does not belong to them.
— Kaila Powell
Founder, Voices4Justice™
Phoenix, Arizona
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Petition created on May 21, 2026