Most people do not realize the quantity of information there is about them on the web. There is a lot of information that government agencies and courts hold on to the documents they use. Even though they contain private details, these documents are considered public records. While there may be certain fees that are required to access various databases, the information is always there. With advancements in technology, it is easy to access documents over the internet. But, what makes birth certificates public records?
By definition, public records are documents that contain the life events of individuals that are kept under governmental authority. Public records, therefore, include marriage certificates, death certificates, and birth certificates. They are maintained in the county and state levels. Numerous public record registries offer people access to their public records. Depending on the state you live in, these records can extend even further to campaign contributions, tax information, real estate deeds and certifications, and many more. This makes it easier for people to access your bankruptcy records and phone numbers. It is why most online companies require birth certificates and other records only to be accessed by other agencies of the government and members of the family.
Why You Need Public Records
There are numerous reasons why you may need to access your public birth records or those of someone else. These reasons include:
– School registration
– Drivers licenses
– Employment reasons
– Identity verification
– Marriage
– Passports
Whether you choose to look for the details online or at the government offices, you need to be related to the person whose vital records you want to access. To recover the records, you will need to know the local and state jurisdictions. If you do not know when and where the person was born, you may need to use census details or ancestry sites to get this information. Census records will show you when the person appears in the census. If they are in the census, you can then look up their information in the National Archives or one of the 14 regional archives.
There are many websites that have digitized federal census records so that they can be easily accessed online. At the national archives, these searches are free. You can also use that 14-day free trial versions that are offered by certain websites to do your searches. Besides, it is possible to use newspaper obituaries to find useful information about the date the person was born.
You also need to have gathers information about the person that will help you find the birth certificate of the person you are looking for. In particular, you will need to know their full maiden names, the full names of the father, city of birth, and their full names.
Online services allow you to look through these databases for free. You cannot view the certificates, but you can access the information in them. There are also paid websites that allow you to make birth records search of any information you need. You need to know that these certificates are confidential to all people except immediate family. In some states, they may not have recordings of birth certificates past 1880, so the number of public records is limited.
Many states require you to apply by mail, online or in person to get birth records. You just need to find the county where the person was born. These records will cost you between $3 and $30 to get access as states do not offer free records.
Conclusion
To answer the question- are birth certificates public record? Yes, they are. It is critical to note that the government restricts the meaning of life events. Online searches allow you to access your vital records fast and conveniently without having to overthink to search extensively and make it easy to find out when someone’s birthday is. Once you know the information required to get the certificate, the process is seamless and convenient. Birth certificate records will only be available to you if you are a family member. You have to be ready to pay a fee to get the records if your online searches do not bear any fruits. Also, you have to go to the respective offices to get the records. You can use this access to find out who your birth parents are if you were adopted, find your birth mother and want to find your family you’ve never met.
