Kansas · Certified copy
Kansas Birth Certificate: Order a Certified Copy Online
We prepare your application and file it with the Office of Vital Statistics, Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The office mails the certified copy to you.
- Secure payment
- Encrypted data
- Email support
- Private service — not a government agency
Kansas at a glance
- Issuing office
- Office of Vital Statistics, Kansas Department of Health and Environment
- Who can order
- 21 relationships · see the list
- Standard processing
- 15–17 Business Days
- What you need
- Photo ID, names, date and place of birth, parents' names
- Expedited processing
- 5–7 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. Kansas issues it for births recorded in the state.
Kansas birth certificate: the Topeka office, aunts, uncles and a specific reason
Kansas birth records are not public. The Office of Vital Statistics in Topeka issues certified copies to the person named, immediate family, a legal representative, or someone proving a direct interest, and its application also lists grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews. Applicants must be eighteen or older and give a specific reason.
Relatives the Kansas application recognizes
Kansas Statute 65-2422d keeps vital records closed and allows copies when the record is needed to determine personal or property rights. The VS-235 application turns that into a relationship list longer than most states use: self, mother, father, brother, sister, son, daughter, current spouse, a maternal or paternal grandparent, a maternal or paternal aunt or uncle, a niece or nephew, and a legal guardian, who must send the custody order. Anyone ordering must be at least eighteen, and the reason given has to be specific rather than "personal".
Why Wichita and Johnson County send you to Topeka
Kansas counties do not issue birth certificates. Sedgwick County says it has no role in recording births and cannot provide copies to Wichita residents, and Johnson County points people to the state office as well. Certified copies come from the Office of Vital Statistics, whose walk-in counter is on Southwest Jackson Street in Topeka. The state holds births from July 1, 1911, with some delayed certificates reaching back to the 1860s; for earlier births, the county clerk is the place to ask.
One photo ID, front and back
The application asks for a copy of both sides of one current photo ID, such as a driver's license, state ID, military ID, passport or visa, permanent resident card or naturalization certificate; a matricula is not accepted. Without a photo ID, you send copies of two documents that show your current address, for example a utility bill, a pay stub, a signed Social Security card, a bank statement, a car registration, an insurance card, a W-2, a tax return or court papers. For the record, VS-235 wants the city, county and hospital of birth and each parent's name and birthplace, and it needs no notary.
Voter ID copies and genealogy
A Kansan who needs a birth certificate only to obtain a voter ID can get one free, stamped "For voting purposes only". For family history, the state asks researchers to contact the office about records before 1940, while later records must be requested by an immediate family member. Pre-1911 records the state never held are open to anyone.
Adoptees, paternity and amendments
After an adoption the state seals the original certificate and issues a supplementary one. An adoptee eighteen or older can obtain an uncertified copy of the original by sending a written, notarized request. When the mother was unmarried and the child is under eighteen, both parents add the father by completing form VS211 before a Kansas district judge; other cases need a paternity order. Amendments use a notarized request, with documents created before the registrant turned ten, and Kansas no longer processes gender-identity amendments.
How it works when you order with BirthChek
Our Kansas form includes the relationships the VS-235 recognizes, from aunt, uncle and niece or nephew to maternal and paternal grandparents. Give a specific reason, enter the hospital and each parent's birthplace, upload your ID and sign. BirthChek files the request with the Office of Vital Statistics in Topeka.
Facts checked October 24, 2026 against the sources below.
Sources
- Office of Vital Statistics — Kansas Department of Health and Environment – Office of Vital Statistics
- Birth certificate — Kansas Department of Health and Environment – Office of Vital Statistics
- Kansas birth certificate application (VS-235) — Kansas Department of Health and Environment – Office of Vital Statistics
- K.S.A. 65-2422d: disclosure of records — Kansas Office of Revisor of Statutes
- Obtaining a before-adoption birth certificate — Kansas Department of Health and Environment – Office of Vital Statistics
- Genealogy requests — Kansas Department of Health and Environment – Office of Vital Statistics
- Birth and death records — Sedgwick County
- Where to write for vital records: Kansas — Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Where to get a Kansas birth certificate: state and local offices
Certified copies for births recorded in Kansas are issued by the Office of Vital Statistics, Kansas Department of Health and Environment.
We take orders for births anywhere in Kansas, including Topeka.
Replacing a lost or damaged Kansas 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 Kansas birth certificate
- You, the person named
- Attorney · proof needed
- Aunt
- Brother
- Daughter
- Father
- Human Services
- Husband
- Legal Guardian · proof needed
- Maternal Grandfather
- Maternal Grandmother
- Mother
- Paternal Grandfather
- Paternal Grandmother
- Sister
- Son
- Spouse
- Uncle
- Wife
- Niece / Nephew
- 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 Kansas birth certificate
- Adoption (International)
- Adoption (US Only)
- Driver's License
- Dual Citizenship/Immigration
- Employment
- Genealogy/Family History
- Government Assistance/Benefits
- Housing
- Identification
- Income Tax
- Inheritance/Estate Settlement
- Insurance
- Legal Purposes
- Marriage (International)
- Marriage (US Only)
- Passport
- Personal Records/Use
- Retirement
- School
- Social Security Card/Benefits
- Sports
- Travel
What you need to order a Kansas 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 Kansas birth certificate?
About ten minutes. Have your photo ID nearby.