From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on November 11, 2007:
It’s among the most divisive questions in the realm of adoption: Should adult adoptees have access to their birth records, and thus be able to learn the identity of their birth parents?
… Kansas and Alaska never barred adoptees from seeing their birth certificates. Since 1996, six other states — Alabama, Delaware, Maine, New Hampshire, Oregon and Tennessee — have decided to allow access to all adult adoptees.
From the Chicago Tribune on November 12, 2007:
Adoptees are the only Americans, who, as a class, are not permitted to obtain their original birth certificates, depriving them of medical data and answers about their personal histories.
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer and the Chicago Tribune both report on a November 2007 report by the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, an organization that advocates for adopted people to have greater access to their birth and adoption records. The report makes several findings, including:
Prohibiting adopted people from getting their personal information raises significant civil rights concerns and potentially serious, negative consequences for their physical and mental health.
In states that now allow access, there has been no evidence that the legal changes have caused problematic behavior by adopted persons or damage to birthmother’s lives.
The Chicago Tribune article highlights additional issues raised in the debate over access to records, including the privacy rights of the birth parents:
“How can we respect everyone’s right to know while recognizing the birth mother’s right to privacy and confidentiality?” said Nancy Golden of the Midwest Adoption Center. “It’s very complicated.”
The Seattle Post-Intelligencer also notes that some organizations oppose open access to birth and adoption records:
Opponents in Connecticut, where bills have failed in each of the past two years, included the state chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. It depicted itself as a voice for birth mothers who opposed the measure but were reluctant to speak out publicly.
Nationwide, one of the major foes of open records is the National Council for Adoption which, represents many religiously affiliated adoption agencies. Its president, Thomas Atwood, says any reconnection between an adopted adult and a birthparent should be by mutual consent — which is the policy in most states.
The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute report responds to the concerns raised by opponents of open access to birth records, noting that:
… states’ experiences as they have implemented new access laws provide the foundation for a fuller examination of the impact of allowing adult adopted persons to obtain their birth certificates (and, sometimes, their adoption records).
As a consequence, the policy debate can now advance from speculation about the appropriateness, wisdom and impact of such legal changes to a more-informed consideration of their personal, practical and social effects on real people’s real lives.
Now that a number of states have opened various levels of access to birth and adoption records, the ongoing debate will be informed by the actual experiences of adoptees and birth parents.
2 responses so far ↓
1 Teri // Dec 18, 2007 at 10:22 am
I do not understand how Connecticut’s American Civil Liberties Union can make a stand against open adoption records arbitrarily for birth mother’s who haven’t spoken up. Many of us believe we haven’t the right to interfere in the life of a child we relinquished, but that by no means implies that we don’t yearn to see our child again or want contact. As a reunited birthmother for about 22 years now I am grateful every day for knowing my daughter and I remember very well the 21 years of agony I went through without knowing her, especially on her birthday each year. Many of the birth mother’s I’ve come in contact with are going through the same thing I did and would give anything to find their birth child, and are in fact looking for them. I think the American Liberties Union doesn’t have a clue what the majority of birth mother’s want.
2 Gershom // Dec 18, 2007 at 5:20 pm
I wanted to correct that Delaware and Tennessee do NOT give adoptees unconditional access to their original birth certificates. Adoptees in those two states are still being treated unequal.
I wholeheartedly believe in equal access to our records. I will be at the Adoptee Rights Demonstration on July 22, 2008 in New Orleans. Everyone who supports open records for adoptees should be! Unite with us for OPEN RECORDS!
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