[FrankR]

"I thought that whenever a child is legally adopted, that the ORIGINAL birth certificate is permanently sealed, and the NEW legal birth certificate contains their NEW legal name, as an adopted child."

I wouldn't think any such ruling would apply if the child is still with his/her birth mother and the adoption is only by the step-father. I wouldn't make sense who "seal" his/her original BC in that case.

[hennie pennie]

NOPE, the original birth certificate is sealed.

Check the laws in your own state; if this is NOT the case, find out how recently the law on sealed birth certificates for adopted youngsters changed.