Tina's California Adoption Page

Additional State Level Resources

State Information Dept 10th and L streets Sacramento CA 95814 916-445-4711

Dept of Social Services Adoption Branch 744 P St Sacramento CA 95814

Archives/Records State library 914 Capitol Mall P.O. Box 2037 Sacramento, CA 95814

California's Court of Jurisdiction on Adoption is Superior Court

This may be helpful to those Aparents who were told they cannot access the adoption records at Superior Court. The following is how the law reads.

CALIFORNIA CODES - FAMILY.CODE - SECTION 9200
9200. (a)	The petition, relinquishment or consent, agreement, order, report to the court from any investigating agency, and any power of attorney and deposition filed in the office of the county clerk pursuant to this part is not open to inspection by any person other than the parties to the proceeding and their attorneys and the department, except upon the written authority of the judge of the superior court. A judge of the superior court may not authorize anyone to inspect the petition, relinquishment or consent, agreement, order, report to the court from any investigating agency, or power of attorney or deposition or any portion of any of these documents, except in exceptional circumstances and for good cause approching the necessitous. The petitioner may be required to pay the expenses for preparing the copies of the documents to be inspected.
	If there is a question about who the parties to the proceeding are, here is the definition of that too. (Include this with your copy of the above code.)
8611.	All court hearings in an adoption proceeding shall be held in private, and the court shall exclude all persons except the officers of the court, the parties, their witnesses, counsel and representatives of the agencies present to perform their offical duties under the law governing adoptions.
Compiled by Ann Spanel ISC - LOST and FOUND ROOTS
Many counties do not honor the above because of the following: Health and Welfare Code 102730. All records and information specified in this article, other than the newly issued birth certificate, shall be available only upon order of a court of record. This was defined in 8/95 by SB 1360.

Driver's license Transcripts Dept of Motor Vehicles P.O. Box 11231 Sacramento CA 95813 FEE: $2.00 need name and license number or name and DOB State Medical Association 969 Gough Street San Francisco, CA 94103

Office of Vital Records and Statistics California Office of Vital Records MS 5103 1501 Capitol Avenue Sacramento, CA 95814

Click here for Contact Info on: California County Recorders Offices

If you are looking for marriage or death information, VRS can help with the following

Deaths-$9.00	Deaths from July 1 1905
Marriages-$13.00	Marriage from July 1 1905
Births-$13.00	Births from July 1 1905
Divorces-$13.00	Divorce from Jan, 1962
An additional fee is charged for each 10 years searched. One certified copy or certification of "no record" is included in fee. Processing time is 8-10 weeks. Use a credit card and add $5.00 but cut the processing time in half. Call VRS for the appropriate forms that must be filled out.

Haven't told your a-parents yet and need some help? Check out: Letter to my Adoptive Parents This is what I wish I had written when I started my search, but did not write until the search was complete. Fortunately, I was able to tell my mom early on, and this is the method I used on the telephone, since we live 2,000 miles apart.