"The following article is from Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter and is copyright by Richard W. Eastman. It is re-published here with the permission of the author. Information about the newsletter is available at http://wwweogn.com." November 17, 2011 New Laws Allow Adopted People 21+ to Obtain Their Original Birth Certificates in Illinois For nearly 250,000 people adopted in Illinois, anyone over the age of 21 can get a copy of their original birth certificate. Even if it was a closed adoption, the birth parents names will be included on birth certificates. You can read more in an article by Tina Stein at http://goo.gl/auLKy