Iowa Birth Certificate: Order a Certified Copy Online

Eligible requesters under chapter 95 of the Iowa rules

Iowa's rules list who may receive a certified copy and expect the applicant to show entitlement:

• the registrant, once of legal age or emancipated
• a current or surviving spouse, a child, and a parent listed on the record
• a brother or sister who is of age
• maternal grandparents, and paternal grandparents when the father is listed
• a grandchild, and a stepparent or stepchild under the conditions the rules set
• a documented representative, such as an attorney, guardian, foster parent, funeral director or executor

Guardians, representatives and siblings send additional proof. Birth parents and other biological relatives of an adoptee are excluded unless they hold a court order.

Notarized by mail, signed in person

Iowa's form asks for the name, date and city or county of birth, both parents' names before marriage, and any adoption, paternity action or name change along with the earlier name. You add your purpose, relationship, date and state of birth, and contact details, and sign under penalty of perjury. Sent by mail, that signature must be notarized; at a counter you sign in front of registrar staff. A current government photo ID is the norm, and without it the state accepts two or three matching documents, such as an expired driver's license plus another item, a utility bill, a tax return, a car title or court papers.

Polk County, Scott County, Johnson County and other recorders

County recorders across Iowa can issue certified copies of births from 1986 to the present wherever in the state they occurred, so a Des Moines birth can be ordered in Davenport or Iowa City, and the reverse. The Polk County Recorder says it has every state birth record from 1985 on. Counties do not hold records from 1921 through 1941, adoptions, births to single parents before July 1995, name changes, delayed records or sealed records; those come from the state office, which holds births from July 1, 1880.

Genealogy copies, commemorative certificates and old wallet cards

State-held birth records are closed, although records in a county registrar's custody may be inspected under Iowa's open records law, and the State Archives opens births after 75 years. Iowa also issues certified copies stamped for genealogical purposes only, available to direct descendants and to aunts, uncles and cousins up to twice removed, and never while the registrant is living. A parchment commemorative certificate signed by the Governor has the same eligibility and also needs a notarized application. The pink and blue wallet cards issued from 1993 to 2009 can be exchanged for a current certificate.

Adoptees, paternity and amended records

An adoptee eighteen or older can request a noncertified copy of the original birth certificate from the state, and if the adoptee has died, a spouse or an adult relative within the second degree may ask. Paternity established by affidavit or court order produces a new certificate that is not marked amended, and the original is sealed. Other changes show the word "amended", and births registered a year or more late are marked delayed.

How it works when you order with BirthChek

Our Iowa form lists the state's relationships, including stepfamily, foster parent and grandchild. Iowa's notary rule covers applications people mail in themselves; with us, BirthChek files the order for you. You enter the parents' names before marriage and any earlier legal name change, upload your ID and sign, and BirthChek files with the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services.