One of the most often asked questions is – how old does an adoptee have to be before they can search? Unfortunately, there is not one single answer. Every state is different in it’s rules and regulations as to the age of consent to search.
What you are looking for particularly is called The Age of Consent or The Age of Majority. This is the age at which a person residing in a particular state is legally considered an adult. This is a typical qualification for obtaining information from adoption records.
Don’t misunderstand. You can start searching whenever you feel like it. However, the amount of information available to you changes considerably with the age of majority.
Here is a quick tip sheet on the states and their legal age of majority:
Alabama – 19 years old
Alaska – 18 years old
Arizona – 18 years old
Arkansas – 21 years old
California – 18 years old
Colorado – 18 years old for women/21 years old for men (how do you like that?)
Connecticut – 18 years old
Delaware – 18 years old
District of Columbia – 18 years old
Florida – 18 years old
Georgia – 18 years old
Hawaii – 18 years old
Idaho – 18 years old
Illinois – 18 years old
Indiana – 21 years old
Iowa – 18 years old
Kansas – 18 years old
Kentucky – 21 years old for “adult adopted person”
Louisiana – 18 years old
Maine – 18 years old
Maryland – 18 years old, 21 for enrollment in registry)
Massachusetts – 18 years old
Michigan – 18 years old
Minnesota – 19 years old
Mississippi – 21 years old
Missouri – 21 years old
Montana – 18 years old
Nebraska – 19 years old
Nevada – 18 years old
New Hampshire – 18 years old
New Jersey – 18 years old
New Mexico – 18 years old
New York – 18 years old, however must be 21 to request adoption related info.
North Carolina – 18 years old, however must be 21 to receive non-id. info
North Dakota – 21 years old
Ohio – 18 years old
Oklahoma – 18 years old
Oregon – 18 years old
Pennsylvania – 18 years old
Rhode Island – 18 years old
South Carolina – 18 years old
South Dakota – 18 years old
Tennessee – 18 years old
Texas – 18 years old
Utah – 18 years old
Vermont – 18 years old
Virginia – 18 years old
Washington – 18 years old
West Virginia – 18 years old
Wisconsin – 18 years old
Wyoming – 19 years old
This information will help you when you begin your search. You are looking for the state the adoption actually took place in, not your birth state.
Good luck!