Arkansas · Certified copy
Arkansas Birth Certificate: Order a Certified Copy Online
We prepare your application and file it with the Vital Records Section, Arkansas Department of Health. The office mails the certified copy to you.
- Secure payment
- Encrypted data
- Email support
- Private service — not a government agency
Arkansas at a glance
- Issuing office
- Vital Records Section, Arkansas Department of Health
- Who can order
- 12 relationships · see the list
- Standard processing
- 5–7 Business Days
- What you need
- Photo ID, names, date and place of birth, parents' names
- Expedited processing
- 1–3 Business Days
- Proof of relationship
- Required for some relationships
A certified copy is the document most agencies accept for a passport, a driver's license, school enrollment or benefits. Arkansas issues it for births recorded in the state.
Arkansas birth certificate: eligible family, local health units and Little Rock
The Arkansas Department of Health issues a birth certificate to the person named once sixteen, the mother, a father named on the record, a child, a spouse, a maternal grandparent, a grandchild, or a guardian with legal papers. Requests can be made at the state office in Little Rock or at local health units across the state.
Eligible individuals in Arkansas
The health department publishes a short list of eligible individuals for birth records: the registrant from age sixteen, the mother, the father if he is named on the certificate, a son or daughter, a husband or wife, the maternal grandparents, a grandchild, and a guardian who supplies legal documentation. Paternal grandparents are not on that list. The state rules exclude natural parents of an adopted child who no longer have custody, and the 1995 statute also lets an authorized representative or someone protecting a personal or property right apply.
Little Rock and local health units
The Vital Records Section on West Markham Street in Little Rock is the state office. It holds births from February 1914, along with some original Little Rock and Fort Smith records going back to 1881. The department also offers vital records service in every county and says requests can be made in person at any local health unit, and its rules give local registrars access to birth records filed anywhere in the state.
ID with a current address and signature
Arkansas wants one government-issued photo ID that shows the applicant's picture, current address, signature and a unique number. A matricula consular, an I-197 and foreign driver's licenses are among those refused. Without a qualifying ID, you send at least two secondary documents that together show your current address and signature, such as a signed Social Security card, a voter card, a utility or bank statement, a tax form or court papers. The VR-7 application asks for the name at birth, sex, date of birth, age, city, county and hospital, the father's full name and the mother's maiden name, plus your relationship and reason; there is no notary block.
Full certified copy or birth card
Arkansas rules provide for two certified products: a full certified copy and a smaller birth card certification. Copies of records filed late or changed later carry a "Delayed" or "Amended" mark. Birth records become open to anyone a hundred years after the birth; before then, genealogists acting for a family need authorization from the registrant or the relevant relatives unless the registrant has died.
Adoption files, paternity and amendments
After an adoption the state issues a new certificate without an "Amended" label and places the original in a file opened only by court order. Since August 2018, adoptees aged twenty-one or older can request their adoption file through a notarized request, and birth parents may have their names redacted. A father is added through a court determination, an acknowledgment signed by both parents, or an affidavit of paternity with the parents' marriage record; replacing a father already listed takes a court order. Minor errors found during the first year are fixed by affidavit, while later amendments need documentary evidence at least five years old.
Late registrations and the evidence Arkansas wants
A birth filed more than a year late is registered as delayed and the copies carry that word. After four years the record uses a delayed certificate form sworn before an official who can administer oaths. Arkansas wants two documents, or a hospital record, when the registration comes within ten years of the birth, and three documents after that, and it does not accept affidavits of personal knowledge in their place. The state's own rules on these cases sit in the 2022 vital records rule published by the health department.
How it works when you order with BirthChek
On our Arkansas form you pick a relationship from the state's eligible list, and a legal guardian or attorney uploads the supporting papers. You enter the city, county and hospital, the father's name and the mother's maiden name, upload an ID that shows your current address and sign. BirthChek files with the Vital Records Section of the Arkansas Department of Health.
Facts checked October 24, 2026 against the sources below.
Sources
- Order birth records — Arkansas Department of Health – Vital Records
- Eligible individuals for birth and death certificates — Arkansas Department of Health – Vital Records
- Application for a birth certificate (VR-7) — Arkansas Department of Health – Vital Records
- ID requirements — Arkansas Department of Health – Vital Records
- Rules pertaining to vital records (2022) — Arkansas Department of Health
- Adoption file requests — Arkansas Department of Health – Vital Records
- Change or amend a birth or death certificate — Arkansas Department of Health – Vital Records
- Where to write for vital records: Arkansas — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Where to get a Arkansas birth certificate: state and local offices
Certified copies for births recorded in Arkansas are issued by the Vital Records Section, Arkansas Department of Health.
We take orders for births anywhere in Arkansas, including Little Rock.
Replacing a lost or damaged Arkansas birth certificate
A replacement is simply a new certified copy of the same birth record. You answer the same questions as for a first copy and nothing on the record changes. Order one when your copy is lost or damaged, or when you need more than one copy for applications running at the same time.
Who can order a Arkansas birth certificate
- You, the person named
- Attorney · proof needed
- Daughter
- Father
- Grandchild
- Husband
- Legal Guardian · proof needed
- Mother
- Son
- Wife
- Maternal Grandparent
- My relationship is not listed · proof needed
Relationships marked "proof needed" must send proof of the relationship with the application; we tell you what counts after you order.
If your relationship is not listed, the office may refuse the application or ask for a court order.
Reasons to request a Arkansas birth certificate
- Adoption (US Only)
- Driver's License
- Employment
- Genealogy/Family History
- Government Assistance/Benefits
- Housing
- Identification
- Income Tax
- Inheritance/Estate Settlement
- Insurance
- Legal Purposes
- Marriage (US Only)
- Passport
- Paternity - Affidavit
- Personal Records/Use
- Retirement
- School
- Social Security Card/Benefits
- Sports
- Travel
What you need to order a Arkansas birth certificate
- A photo ID: driver's license, state ID, passport or military ID
- Full name on the certificate and date of birth
- City or county of birth
- Both parents' names, including the mother's maiden name
- A debit or credit card
- Proof of your relationship, for the relationships marked above
Prefer to order directly? Find the office in the CDC directory
Ready to order your Arkansas birth certificate?
About ten minutes. Have your photo ID nearby.