In 2024, the form to amend a Tennessee birth certificate after adoption, a Certificate of Adoption, was revised to remove the previously required court certification. Tennessee Department of Vital Records requires instead, that a certified copy of the final order of adoption be submitted along with the Certificate of Adoption form. If you have an old certificate of adoption form in your forms set, note that the revised TN Certificate of Adoption Form is form number PH-1248 (rev. 10/24) and may be found with this link: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/health/documents/vital-records/PH-1248-Certificate-of-Adoption.pdf
Admittedly, I meant to blog on the new process back in 2024, but other things took precedence. I did include the change and revised form in all Good Law trainings since the form was revised. I hoped that you were not inconvenienced by the blog delay. I was finally prompted to sit down and write about the form change by a September 2025 change in the Georgia process to revise the birth certificates of Georgia-born children adopted in Tennessee.
As most of you know, for US children, birth certificates come from the place the child was originally born, and the state of birth must amend the birth certificate when the child is adopted elsewhere. Our sister state of Georgia has about 11.2 million residents, compared to Tennessee’s 7.2 million. Georgia has lots of kids, and Tennesseans often adopt them. Busy Tennessee adoption practitioners modify the birth certificates of children born in Georgia with some regularity.
For many years, Georgia requested that Tennessee adoption attorneys send Georgia whatever we would send to Tennessee for a post-adoption amendment. That was a kindness, particularly compared to the cumbersome requirements of some of our other sister states.
But when Tennessee changed its form in 2024 to remove the court’s certification and require a certified copy of the final order of adoption, Georgia continued to insist on the old Tennessee form and a court’s certification on that form. This caused confusion and delays for many Tennessee families. Gradually, some Tennessee clerks began to refuse to certify the old Tennessee form, insisting on the use of the revised Tennessee form that Georgia still refused to accept.
This is just the kind of administrative cul-de-sac that makes lawyers bang their heads, and an adoption wonk problem if there ever was one. But if your client can’t get their kindergartener enrolled, it is time to wonk out. Now I happily report that Tennessee adoptive families and their lawyers have been freed from the cul-de-sac. Georgia now accepts, in fact requires, Tennessee’s current certificate of adoption form along with a certified copy of the Tennessee final order of adoption. Once again, just send Georgia what you send to Tennessee.
Taking care of Tennessee’s children and families isn’t all bold closing arguments.
I appreciate all that you do,
Dawn
