What Are Birth Records?

Learn More About Birth Records

Before you start looking into people’s birth records, you should probably know a little bit about what birth records even encompass. It may seem self-evident, but there could be information you might not expect.

Record of a Birth

As you would expect, a birth record functions as a record of a live birth that happened at some point. That includes information about the birth parents’ names, dates, race, ethnicity, physical characteristics and sometimes other information like the location of the birth, the doctor or midwife who submitted the birth record and general information about the family.

Depending on the circumstances surrounding the birth, there may be some information missing or redacted. Adoptees may be able to find information about adopted parents, but not biological parents. If the mother doesn’t know who the father is or wasn’t willing to provide that information, you won’t be able to access it. Different states also have different requirements for birth records, so some states may provide more detailed information than others.

Birth Records Versus Birth Certificates

It’s important to note that birth records are different from birth certificates. PeopleFinders doesn’t provide actual birth certificates; it does provide birth records. Both of these are useful, even if they’re very different. Birth records can provide you with much of the same information as birth certificates. The differences do vary from state to state, so make sure you know the details for your state before searching.

Birth records may also have different information for adoptees. You can find birth records in a variety of states: sealed, publicly accessible or only reflecting information on the revised birth certificate, which the court issues after a finalized adoption. Again, check your state laws for more information here.

Medically Filed Information

Sometimes, birth records may have information that’s pertinent to an individual’s medical records. Although these are usually constrained to hospital records, you may find a variety of miscellaneous information in a birth record, especially depending on the state in which you live.

Certain hospitals may also submit birth records for live births that resulted in the infant’s death very soon after birth. The hospital may note this information on the birth record directly or may submit both a birth record and a death record with no overlap in the information they present. The best way to determine more information regarding a record like this is to perform a people search and then find all pertinent information from the search results directly.

How Can Birth Records Help Me?

You can use birth records in a variety of different ways. Here are some of the most common ways people use birth records in their daily lives.

Verifying an Identity

If you want to verify that someone is actually who he or she claims to be, birth records may help you in your quest. All you have to do is match up the information in the birth record with the information you know about this person.

Birth records may have certain information like a basic physical description, which can be very helpful when you’re trying to verify someone’s identity. If someone is claiming to be a certain individual, but their eye color and birth date don’t match, you may have reason to be wary.

Finding Information About Yourself

Are you looking for information about where you came from? Adoptees often use online people searches in order to get extra information about biological parents, and birth records can be a great way to find that information. Although birth records aren’t the same as birth certificates, you may be able to get useful information from birth records that can still help you get more information about your biological parents.

Depending on the state, you may find birth record information from when you were born or from when the state reissued your birth certificate for your adopting parents. Either way, this can actually be a useful way to continue your search for information. There’s really no downside to trying.

Double-Checking People Searches

When you perform a people search on PeopleFinders, you can get started with just a first name, last name and location. Although this makes it extremely easy to start looking for the person in question, it can also turn up a lot of false leads; this is especially true if the name is fairly common. You can use a variety of built-in tools to ensure that you’re looking at the right person, which will save you grief later on.

One of those tools is the birth records on file. When you look up someone on PeopleFinders, you should probably have at least a general idea of that person’s age. If the birth records show a vastly different age than what you’re expecting, you might want to keep searching to make sure this is the person you’re actually looking for.

Can I Get Access to Birth Records?

Birth records are generally considered “public records,” which may lead you to believe that you can access them entirely for free. Is that actually the case?

Public Records and Administrative Fees

Courtrooms and sheriff’s offices across the country offer a variety of public records for people to look through, including both civil and criminal cases. These administrative offices catalog the records that come through, often digitizing them as well so they’re accessible online.

The thing is, they’re usually not free. Although these are technically publicly accessible, the courts can charge administrative fees as compensation for the work. The fees can range anywhere from a fairly affordable $0.10 per page to $30 per record or more, depending on the state and specific location.

Online People Search

If you’re looking for a more affordable option, try PeopleFinders. With PeopleFinders, you can attempt to find birth records and all kinds of other public records information from the comfort of your own home. Plus, searching is much easier. It’s possible for you to actively go through these people searches and effectively find the birth records you’re looking for without having to pay additional administrative fees.

PeopleFinders is also one of the largest online people search engines, so you know you’re getting your money’s worth. This massive online people search is comprised of billions of records for hundreds of millions of American adults, so you can find the person you’re looking for as effortlessly as possible. With a variety of tools, including public records accessibility, PeopleFinders is exactly what you’re looking for.

How to Use PeopleFinders

So how do you use this massive online people search database to the fullest? There are plenty of ways to do it. You can start by performing a people search using your subject’s first name, last name, city and state. From there, you can see a list of people who match the criteria. If the person you’re looking for has a pretty common name, you may need to use filters in order to narrow your search. You can use additional information that you already have to help narrow things down.

From there, you can gain access to all sorts of information about an individual. That includes criminal records, bankruptcy filings, arrest records, current and previous addresses and other information. Whether you’re trying to make sure that person is safe to be around, verify someone’s identity or anything else, you can rest assured that PeopleFinders has your back.

There are lots of reasons to love PeopleFinders. With one of the largest databases online and simple, user-friendly searches, it allows you to get the biggest return on your time with the least amount of effort. Start your search today to find the birth records and other information you might need.