Colorado · Certified copy
Colorado Birth Certificate: Order a Certified Copy Online
We prepare your application and file it with the Vital Records Section, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. The office mails the certified copy to you.
- Secure payment
- Encrypted data
- Email support
- Private service — not a government agency
Colorado at a glance
- Issuing office
- Vital Records Section, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment
- Who can order
- 13 relationships · see the list
- Standard processing
- 20–24 Business Days
- What you need
- Photo ID, names, date and place of birth, parents' names
- Expedited processing
- 10–15 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. Colorado issues it for births recorded in the state.
Colorado birth certificate: who qualifies and which county can help
Colorado birth records are confidential, and a certified copy is released only to someone with a direct and tangible interest: the registrant, a spouse, parents and stepparents, adult children, brothers and sisters, a legal guardian, or a legal representative of one of them. Everyone except the registrant and the parents must show proof of the relationship.
Relationships Colorado accepts, and the proof each one needs
Colorado Revised Statute 25-2-117 makes birth records confidential, and the state application lists who may order. The registrant and the parents need nothing beyond identification. A spouse, a stepparent, an adult son or daughter, or a brother or sister proves the link with documents such as birth or marriage certificates; guardians and legal representatives show certified court orders or the papers that appoint them. Grandparents do not appear on the state's list, commercial firms are excluded, and a birth parent who no longer has custody after an adoption is not eligible.
Primary and secondary identification
Colorado sorts ID into two tiers. One unexpired primary document is enough: a U.S. driver's license or state ID, a passport, a military ID, or a certificate of naturalization or citizenship. Otherwise you need two secondary documents, such as a Social Security card, a Medicare card, a pay stub or W-2, a vehicle registration or a marriage certificate, and none of them may be long expired. A Matricula Consular, an ITIN letter, novelty IDs and souvenir birth certificates are refused. If you have no acceptable ID at all, the state suggests that a spouse, parent, sibling or adult child order for you.
Denver, Adams County, Arapahoe County and statewide issuance
Colorado runs its birth records as one statewide system, so you are not tied to the county where the birth happened. Denver's public health office states that every Colorado county can issue a birth certificate for a person born anywhere in the state, which means the vital records counters in Adams County, Arapahoe County or Denver can all help a Coloradan born elsewhere in the state. County offices cannot correct a record, though; changes go to the state office, which holds births from 1910 and some earlier county records.
Standard and heirloom certificates
The ordinary certified copy is the standard certificate. Colorado also prints an heirloom certificate meant for framing, which may carry the state seal and the governor's signature and which the statute treats as having the same status as evidence as the original. An adoptee or adoptive parent can ask for an optional notation that the certificate was issued pursuant to adoption. Family history requests use the same application as a certified copy.
What the application asks, adoptees and late registrations
The form wants the registrant's name at birth, date of birth, city and county, sex, both parents with their names before first marriage, and whether the registrant has died, in which case a copy of the death certificate is attached. You add your own contact details, relationship and reason, and sign; no notary is involved. After an adoption a new certificate replaces the original, which is sealed, but adult adoptees and other eligible parties may obtain the original under section 19-5-305. A birth registered a year or more late starts with a records search, and the delayed registration follows the "No Record" letter.
How it works when you order with BirthChek
Colorado expects proof from everyone except the registrant and the parents, and our order flow does the same. Pick your relationship from the state's list, and if you are a spouse, sibling, son or daughter, guardian or legal representative, your order page asks for the supporting document before anything is filed. BirthChek then submits the request to the Vital Records Section of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
Facts checked October 24, 2026 against the sources below.
Sources
- Identification and eligibility documentation and requirements — Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment – Vital Records
- Order a certificate — Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment – Vital Records
- Colorado Revised Statutes, Title 25 (sections 25-2-113, 25-2-117, 25-2-122) — Colorado General Assembly
- Adoption information — Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment – Vital Records
- Birth and death certificates — City and County of Denver – Public Health and Environment
- Where to write for vital records: Colorado — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Where to get a Colorado birth certificate: state and local offices
Certified copies for births recorded in Colorado are issued by the Vital Records Section, Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
We take orders for births anywhere in Colorado, including Denver, Adams County and Arapahoe County.
Replacing a lost or damaged Colorado 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 Colorado birth certificate
- You, the person named
- Brother · proof needed
- Daughter · proof needed
- Father
- Guardian · proof needed
- Husband · proof needed
- Legal Representative · proof needed
- Mother
- Other · proof needed
- Sister · proof needed
- Son · proof needed
- Wife · proof needed
- 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 Colorado 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
- Lost
- Marriage (US Only)
- Newborn
- Passport
- Personal Records/Use
- Retirement
- School
- Social Security Card/Benefits
- Sports
- Travel
What you need to order a Colorado 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 Colorado birth certificate?
About ten minutes. Have your photo ID nearby.