Kentucky Adoption Records Resources

If you’re adoption was finalized in Kentucky, and you’re looking for adoption resources you’ll find some hope in using the Kentucky Birth Index Books. The other resources of microfiche and CDs are copied from the original index books. The Kentucky Birth Index Book can be very helpful. Read more to find out what the birth index is, where you can find these adoption resources, and what information is in each. Expect a few surprises by the way.

Kentucky’s Birth Index Books were created by law in 1911. The books were never intended to be a resource for adoption information but in today's world, they have. Even if a child was going to be an adoptee their original birth information was recorded in the index. All births and deaths for the year were sent to the Capitol of Frankfort, Kentucky. The Kentucky Birth Index Books were printed and released to the local county health departments. Unfortunately as time went on the capital of Kentucky people realized that they were finding this adoption resource a good tool for an adoptee to find family. It’s no wonder either because valuable information is included within the many volumes. The adoptee birth certificate number, date of birth, mother’s maiden name, county, gender, and if it was a single birth are all recorded.

The index books were discontinued during the 1980s, but the information was put onto microfiche. As far as being a helpful resource for adoption investigations it’s not. If you’re going to use the microfiche expect to find your information has been altered from the birth index book. You’ll find one of two possibilities. Either your name has been overlooked and left out, or your new amended information now on the microfiche is incorrectly listed. In other words all of your amended adoption information will be in place of the original. I personally know this from experience.