Washington birth records are the business of those individuals who were born in the state of Washington. Remember, besides yourself, your immediate family, or your designated legal representative (if you have one), no one else may view your birth record. This policy exists across the board, in every state, to protect individuals against invasions of privacy or unlawful use of their personal information.

What if you need to access your Washington birth records? The way to go about this is to either contact the government directly, or go through an online service specializing in retrieving birth records. The basic differences between the two are those of convenience, and are outlined below.

The Two Different Ways to Obtain Your Washington Birth Records

The first way to obtain your birth records, by going through the government offices, is the traditional method. Before the invention of the internet, this was the only way to obtain copies of your birth certificate and other basic confirmations of birth. This option is still available, and remains popular among those who either don't use the internet, or who aren't in a big hurry.

The other method is to take advantage of one of the online services that do the job of dealing with the government offices for you. You still have to complete an application, of course, filling in your personal information through a secure, encrypted web page. From there, though, the online staff will take it from there, dealing with the vital records office holding your Washington birth record information through the entire process, until your copy of birth certificate is delivered to your door.