Hi, all adoptees from Germany,

having searched and found quite a few US German-born adoptees' birth families (usually mothers and half-siblings) lately I realized that hardly any of those adopted by US citizens (mostly military people) have a copy of their original birth certificate. Thus they do not know how much info such a certified copy from the birth register provides.

A very good friend, David (name given by his adoptive parents) was born in Ludwigsburg, Baden-Württemberg in the early 1950s. He gave his OK for uploading his birth certificate after I had erased a few words and numbers to anonymize it.

As you can see such a certified birth certificate has on it (from top to bottom):

number of birth register
place of birth
name and profession of birth mother
religion/faith
her address when the baby was born
date and time of birth
place of birth (usually a hospital)
sex of child
first names of child
name of person/institution that reported the birth and date

part two below the signature:
marriage of parents (crossed out if mother was not married)
replaced by mother's date of birth, place of birth and registration number

On the left was later added any info on the child's adoption and the name given by the adoptive parents (date and place of adoption, adoptive parents' names and residence in Germany (and often in the USA), file number and maybe more.

If an adoptee does not have such a birth certificate but one that only shows the name given by the adoptive parents, the place and date of birth, a record that is titled "Geburtsschein", then the first step to find birth family is to write to the local "Standesamt" (office for civil registration) and ask for a certified copy from the birth register with any available additional notes.
In German: eine beglaubigte Kopie des Geburtseintrages aus dem Geburtenbuch (or Geburtenregister) mit allen Hinweisen und Randvermerken

They expect you to prove that your are that adopted child by giving them as much info as you have (copy of “Geburtschein”, copy of papers from the adoption office, copy of your ID or driver's licence, etc). Some offices even ask a notarized letter.

They charge 10-15 Euros in most cases plus postage. Sometimes when the record was asked by from abroad they ask to transfer the money up front. The transfer fees are often much higher than the fees for the record.

After you were sent your birth certificate you have made a huge step forward to find your birth mother/family.

All the rights are on the side of the adoptees. The birth mother has given up all her rights. If she looks for her child she only has one option: write to the adoption office, leave a letter there for her child and then she can pray and hope that some day her child will ask for his/her adoption papers. Then they would tell the adoptee that a letter is in the file and ask if he/she is interested in getting in touch with his/her mother. So you should be careful with blaming your birth mother for not searching for you. She has no chance, nor have your half-siblings.

Feel free to get back to me with any questions.

Gaby (Germany)