Skagit County Public Health can issue certified birth certificates for:
- persons born in Washington State from July 1, 1907, to the present
- persons who were adopted in Washington
Copies of birth certificates for births that occurred in Skagit County from 1891 to 1907 may be requested from the Skagit County Auditor's Office.
HOW TO OBTAIN A CERTIFIED BIRTH CERTIFICATE
Certified birth certificates are legal documents that prove a birth occurred. Only people with specific relationships to the person on the birth record can receive a certified copy of a birth certificate.
To obtain a certified copy of a birth record from Skagit County Public Health, please:
- Provide valid government identification or alternate identification (English | Spanish)
- Provide documentation to prove your qualifying relationship (English | Spanish)
- Complete a Birth Certificate Order Form
- Pay the applicable fee(s). Fees start at $25.
- If you are identified in a notarized form signed by a qualified applicant, or an agent identified in a Power of Attorney, please complete an Authorized Representative Form (English | Spanish)
Once acceptable proofs of identity and eligibility are provided, application(s) is complete, and the fee per certified copy is received, issuance may occur immediately. We accept cash, check, MasterCard/Visa credit cards. Requests are processed and mailed the same day we receive them.
WHAT IS A BIRTH CERTIFICATE?
By law, every person, physician or otherwise, who delivers an infant must prepare a standardized birth certificate which verifies the fact of the birth. The form of document is prescribed by State law. All original birth certificates are on file with the Washington State Center for Health Statistics office in Olympia, Washington.
Some hospitals or physicians may issue parents of a newborn a card or document attesting to the fact of birth. This is not a valid birth certificate. The only valid certificate is the original certificate on file with the Center for Health Statistics in Olympia, Washington. Only Skagit County Public Health or the State Office is authorized to issue "certified copies". These are photostatic copies certified by the appropriate government official as being true copies of the original document and fulfill all legal requirements.
WHY ARE BIRTH CERTIFICATES NEEDED?
Certified copies of birth certificates are of value and often essential for various purposes. These purposes include verifying age for school enrollment, obtaining driver's licenses, establishing citizenship, proving eligibility for Medicare, providing necessary information for life insurance policies, acquiring passports, and other identity or age verifications. Additionally, some government entities use birth records for determination of population trends and for development of a wide variety of health-related statistics.
Some families keep two birth certificates for each family member. One copy is kept in a safe place outside the home, for example, in a safety deposit box to protect against loss by fire. The second copy is kept on file at home and is the copy for routine use.
Skagit County Public Health can issue certified death certificates:
- that were filed within Skagit County from January 1, 2011, to present
- from other counties that were filed electronically from March 1, 2011, to present
To acquire certified copies of death certificates prior to January 1, 2011, you will need to request them from the Washington State Center for Health Statistics.
Copies of death certificates for deaths that occurred in Skagit County from 1891 to 1910 may be requested from the Skagit County Auditor's Office.
HOW TO OBTAIN A CERTIFIED DEATH CERTIFICATE
Certified death certificates are legal documents that prove a death occurred. Only people with specific relationships to the person on death record can receive a certified copy of a death certificate.
To obtain a certified copy of a death record from Skagit County Public Health, please:
- Provide valid government identification or alternate identification (English | Spanish)
- Provide documentation to prove your qualifying relationship (English | Spanish)
- Complete a Death Certificate Order Form (English | Spanish)
- Pay the applicable fee(s). Fees start at $25.
- If you are identified in a notarized form signed by a qualified applicant, or an agent identified in a Power of Attorney, please complete an Authorized Representative Form (English | Spanish)
Once acceptable proofs of identity and eligibility are provided, application(s) is complete, and the fee per certified copy is received, issuance may occur immediately. We accept cash, check, MasterCard/Visa credit cards. Requests are processed and mailed the same day we receive them.
Non-certified copies of birth/death records are not issued on the certified paper with security features and cannot be used for legal purposes. It will contain a watermark stating "cannot be used for legal purposes. Informational only."
To obtain a non-certified birth/death certificate from Skagit County Public Health, please:
- Provide valid government identification or alternate identification (English | Spanish)
- Complete a Non-Certified Birth/Death Certificate Order Form (English | Spanish)
- Pay the applicable fee(s). Fees start at $25.
Once acceptable proofs of identity and eligibility are provided, application(s) is complete, and the fee is received, issuance may occur immediately. We accept cash, check, MasterCard/Visa credit cards. Requests are processed and mailed the same day we receive them.
If you do not complete the Acknowledgement of Parentage form at the hospital, you can obtain it at Skagit County Public Health or at the local Division of Child Support (DCS) office in Mount Vernon. We can also notarize paternity acknowledgements for people born in Washington at no cost (state filing fee still applies). The completed acknowledgement must be mailed directly to the Center for Health Statistics in Olympia.
COST
The Center for Health Statistics charges a $18 filing fee for paternity acknowledgements. Your local child support office may be able to pay the filing fee if you meet the qualifications listed below.
- The child is born in Washington State.
- The child's mother was unmarried at time of birth.
- The father of the child is not named on the child's birth certificate.
FORMS
More information about paternity acknowledgements can be found here. If you have questions about the services Skagit County Public Health provides related to paternity acknowledgements, please call us at (360) 416-1500.
