NEW YORK, Nov. 12, 2007
States Urged To Let Adoptees See Records
Report Cites "Overwhelmingly Positive" Outcomes In States With Open Records
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Is Adoption A Private Matter?
Only eight states allow adopted adults access to their birth and adoption records. Cynthia Bowers reports on the debate over privacy.
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This July 2007 photo made available by Maine State Senator Paula Benoit, shows Sen. Benoit, center, who was adopted as an infant, and was the lead sponsor of a bill enacted in Maine this year that will allow all adults who were adopted to gain access to their birth certificates. (AP Photo/Paula Benoit)
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In a comprehensive report being released Monday, a leading U.S. adoption institute says the answer is "Yes" and urges the rest of America to follow the path of the eight states that allow such access to all adults who were adopted.
"States' experiences in providing this information make clear that there are minimal, if any, negative repercussions," said the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute. "Outcomes appear to have been overwhelmingly positive for adult adopted persons and birthparents alike."
For years there has been an assumption privacy was in the best interests of the birth parents who give up their children and the families who adopt them, reports CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers.
Today's report suggests otherwise. It found when states open records:
Opponents of open access argue that unsealing birth records violates the privacy that birthmothers expected when they opted to give up their babies. They raise the specter of birthparents forced into unwanted relationships with grown children who have tracked them down.
But the Donaldson Institute says most birthparents, rather than being fearful and ashamed, welcome contact with the children they bore.
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.
However, the progression has been slow, and open-records legislation has been rebuffed in many states by a determined and diverse opposition.
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 birthmothers who opposed the measure but were reluctant to speak out publicly.
In New Jersey, where a long-running campaign to pass an open-re+cords bill was derailed again this year, the opposition includes New Jersey Right to Life and the New Jersey Catholic Conference. They argue that eliminating the prospect of confidentiality might prompt a pregnant single woman to choose abortion rather than adoption.
Marlene Lao-Collins of the Catholic Conference said she knew of no data supporting the concerns about abortions, "but even if it just happened once, that would be one too many."
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.
"I empathize with anybody who feels the need to know their biological parents' identity," Atwood said. "But I don't think the law should enable them to force themselves on someone who has personal reasons for wanting confidentiality."
The Donaldson report says evidence from the states with open records rebuts every argument against the concept. Notably, it says there is no proof that abortions rise, that adoptions decline, or that birthparents are harassed following a switch to open records.
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"There has been no evidence that the lives of birthmothers have been damaged as a result," the report says. "In the states that have amended their laws ... few birthmothers have expressed the desire to keep records sealed or the wish not to be contacted."States' experiences in providing this information make clear that there are minimal, if any, negative repercussions.
report by Evan B. Donaldson Adoption InstituteThe most recent state to opt for open records is Maine; a law signed in June will allow adult adoptees to access their birth certificates starting in 2009.
One of the bill's main sponsors was state Sen. Paula Benoit, an adoptee who personally lobbied all her colleagues. While working on the bill, she uncovered her own biological background and learned, to her amazement, that two Democratic lawmakers she was working with were her nephews.
"There are so many adoptees who want to know who they are," she said. "Can you imagine being denied your identity?"Among the many birthmothers grateful to have been found by children they relinquished is Eileen McQuade of Delray Beach, Florida, who is president of the American Adoption Congress and a fervent advocate of open records.
"Secrecy was the way it was done at the time - it was not a choice or a preference on the part of the mothers," McQuade said of the 1960s, when she placed a daughter for adoption. "We treat adoptees as if they're forever children - it's absurd."
The Donaldson report depicts adopted people as the only class of Americans not permitted to routinely obtain their birth certificates.
Giving them full access "is a matter of legal equality, ethical practice and, on a human level, basic fairness," the report said. "It is an essential step toward placing adoptive families, families of origin, everyone connected to them and, indeed, adoption itself on a level playing field within society, without the stigma, shame and inequitable treatment they have experienced in the past."
"The mythology around adoption is based on the notion that you should be protecting someone from something," said the institute's executive director, Adam Pertman.
"But that's not the reality," he said. "Adoptees are not behaving poorly, they're behaving very respectfully, and birthparents do not appear to be a frightened class that wants to hide."
© MMVII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Tony Mellencamp
Berne IN
I''d settle for just knowing she''s alive.
There are hundreds of websites and databases.
ISSR is the big international registry.
Its hard to search for someone when you don''t know their name. Birth dates were often changed on amended birth certificates.
Does it cost too much for any American citizen to obtain their true record of birth?
Does it really cost too much to tell me my mothers name?
If you were adopted in IL, you''re screwed unless it was an open adoption. The Cradle is really terrible; they want to charge me $75 for medical, $75 for NON-identifying info or a bargain price of $100 for both pieces of information. If I want them to do a search (with no guarantees and they''re where I was adopted from) they charge at least $750 or more.
Isn''t that nice places can charge us to find out information that is our right to know and is info that everyone not adopted has access to for no charge! It''s time for all those states that won''t let us find out to stop denying us our heritage and opportunity to know where we are from!
Still wanting to know in WY
Colorado has a voluntary registry that allows contact with mutual consent, but the problem is- most people do not know it exists! The only other option is a confidential intermediary which STARTS at $800 or more.
I am one of the lucky ones, I found my birth family 4 years ago on my own, it has brought me and my family peace of mind. My birth family has welcomed me with open arms, even though my birthmom did not tell anyone about me until after I found her.
I wish all adoptees could have the same rights as everyone else...that goes for foster children too.
I also think there should be a mediator between the two parties in the beginning......
What about the other 5%?
I would have no desire to be contacted by a child I had given up for adoption. For those who think it would be magic, think again.
A quote from Emerson: "Beware what you set your heart upon, for it will surely be yours." This translates into: Be careful what you wish for - you just might get it.
Every year on the birthdate my friend cried and wondered if her daughter was alive. Last year her daughter found her. My friend also found out she was now a grandmother and everything is working out well...they met once so far in person but talk on the phone and exchange pictures often.
Again -- not all reunions end happily, I know of some that didn''t. Fortunately, my son didn''t hate me for giving him up as I had always thought he might---he thanked me for giving him life !! One more thing -- remember: alot of women have not told anyone they had a baby and gave him/her up for adoption. The 1960''s etc was a very different time and unwed mothers were not looked upon very good.
I hope everyone that is looking for a child or parent can get the information they need. My son is lucky that we have alot of the information he needs.
Adopted adult children go to Dr%u2019s and are asked, please answer these few family questions%u2026.Do you know if your mother had diabetes, cancer, any rare form of disease, how about mental illness. Est.:
The question, which was brought up the part where it would up the abortions. I totally disagree; I think it would cut down on abortions. Why, knowing that some day when a woman is at a better place in life would get the chance to meet there child someday.Young women grow up and change, and mature. They also grow in years an empty spot in there hearts%u2026.
I feel if this is what everyone wants, then let%u2019s do it. Help people to heal%u2026.. Give adult Adoptees there rights, what is owed to them. Seems all the advocates to every other civil thing get heard%u2026..
I''d like to meet one who has.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyu4E9Bhi9E
OPEN the RECORDS!!! Everyone should be reasonable adults on both sides of he triad. We can work it out so that everyone is satisfied as far as being contacted or not. But all adoptees should be allowed their records if they want them just like those not adopted.
That would be logical; to easy so there for it was not thought of to fill out a medical form...You must be an adopted parent...Wouldn''t it be nice the adopted child had some medical history. Especially when you are at the Dr.s Office every month, due to allergies, diabetes, bipolar issues that were inherited. The laws have changed considerably since the 1960s. I am hearing more and more information is included with adoptions now a days. Adult adoptee%u2019s of the 1960s to 70s era was closed, sealed, and secretive.
The theory was adoption was the answer to unexpected pregnancy%u2019s, unwed mothers, childless couples, and family shame. It was never thought through how it would actually hurt the children and birth families beyond repair. Now all the thousands and thousands of adoptees want to know about them selves. This issue is about adopted adult children to help them heal.
As I said if every other civil rights thing could make it to the courts why not open records%u2026
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by anewman46
November 15, 2007 10:24 PM EST
- Katie Couric needs to know how many responses have came in since her report.
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