by Birth records are the ideal source when you are looking to find someone’s birthday and celebrate it with them. You might also be looking for birth records of your ancestors which is possible too. This article will act as a guide on how to find birth records in Alaska, as you can search for birth records online.
The region of Alaska was once under Russian rule from 1799 to 1867. It was later purchased by the United States in 1867. It then became the United States’ 49 state in 1959. There are no counties in Alaska rather boroughs.
Birth records started being recorded in Alaska in 1913 but the activity started to be complied with around 1945. Most of the records you will find from the Bureau of Vital Statistics are from 1930 and later. The Health Analytic and Vital Records Division, a branch of the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services (ADHSS) is the one tasked with keeping vital records in the state.
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Alaska Vital Records
Vital records are birth records, marriage records, divorce records, adoption records and death records. You can get a copy of such records in Alaska from the Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics at a fee. You can also pay a visit to the Clerk’s office where they were taken. Vital records for other state can be located from the National Center for Health Statistics.
Vital records are strictly confidential according to Alaska Law until they are made public records after a period of 100 years for births records, and 50 years for all other records. Until then, these records are made available to someone who can prove sufficiently enough that they need to access them.
Who can Obtain Birth Records in Alaska
If you are looking for birth records on someone who was born within the last 100 years you must be:
- The person who owns the certificate.
- The parent to the person on the certificate.
- The legal guardian of the person on the certificate.
- Someone who has legal authority by court to access the certificate.
- A legal representative of the owner of the certificate.
You cannot access Alaska birth records that are within 100 years unless you meet the conditions listed above.
How to Obtain Alaska Birth Records
If you fit any of the above mentioned categories on who can have access to birth records in Alaska, then you send a request to the Division of Public Health. You can make a request through downloading the Alaska Birth Certificate Request Form and completing it.
The application must have the following details:
- The name of the owner of the birth record.
- The full name of the father and mother’s maiden name of the birth record owner.
- Place and date of birth.
- The relationship between the one requesting the records and the record owner.
- The reason behind such a request.
Requests should be accompanied by a government issued photo ID plus money or a cheque as the $30 payment order. Other documents can be included if they support the request.
You can also access birth records online in Alaska. There are third party sites that offer these records too. These sites are not geographically limited. They offer searches to multiple locations. Third party sites normally require the requesting party to give the location of the record (city, county or state). They also need the name of the person whose record you are looking for.
Third party sites are not sponsored by government hence their records might differ. The Alaska Department of Health and Social Services’ (ADHSS) encourage people who are looking for vital records in Alaska to order them through their contracted vendor VitalChek. You can order certified copies of birth records from Health Analytics with the forms under “order certificates from VitalChek’’.
Other possible ways that you can use to get hold of birth records in Alaska besides online or mail/ fax can be through a walk in to the Anchorage Juneau office. You can use only one method to request for the results from those listed. Otherwise, you will have to pay for any request made.
Email orders are no longer considered for security purposes of the requester.
Alternative Options
Birth records are actually hard to come by and one might consider using other options. Marriage records, divorce records and census records can be considered for such a lookup as they also have birth information on them. So if you find it impossible to find birth records using the above mentioned methods, you may consider this route considering those records are available.
These options can be a solution on how to find birth records in Alaska. You have an option to visit the Anchorage Juneau office, order them online or send a mail or fax request. The return time for all these option differ though.
