Birth index?

Question

What kind of info does the birth index have on it? Does it list ALL births for an area, or does it only list adoptees?

Answer 1

Birth indexes are different for every state.  Some list them once, some list them twice.  IE: in Texas, my sister was listed as "infant of" and my mother's name.  Then she was also listed as the name her adoptive family gave her.  But they birth numbers are not always the same.

Cali is different too.  My stepdaughter is listed under the name her bf and bm gave her but she is also listed under her adoptive name and the numbers match.

Answer 2

In my experience, it very often DOESN'T list adoptees.  Or, at least in my case, doesn't list them by name...or anything else useful (to me).  Unless you are talking about a different birth index than the official/public/county records.  That's the one I'm talking about.

I'm actually on two birth indexes.  My entry was 'treated' (yeah, that's actually the word they used...nice, huh?) in the original birth index to remove/alter any identifying information about me or either of my birth parents.  It essentially says (after the signing of my birthmother's relinquishment papers): baby girl 'x' born to [blacked out] aka: Jane Doe and [blacked out] aka: father not identified.  But, actually, he was indentified and, therefore, blacked out.  *sigh*

My 'other' birth index is the one my name and the names of my adopted parents was added to upon the finalization of my adoption (more than a year after my birth).  It names my adopted parents as my parents and me with my adopted name and correct date-of-birth, with the entry date 13 months later.  It is blank where time and place of birth should be.  In the early 70s the 'powers that be' couldn't figure out how to justify an entry in the 'local' birth index of a birth that took place in another county (let alone, another state...and a year earlier), so they didn't put those things in -- problem solved.  They thought.  Oh well...