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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Play CBS Video Video 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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Interactive Adoption Database Learn more about each state's laws relating to adoption consent.
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.
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Add a Comment See all 38 Comments
- Katie Couric needs to know how many responses have came in since her report.
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- yoopermom,
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 - Reply to this comment
- I am an adoptee from Colorado. My case is in the hands of a confidential intermediary. I was fortunate in that my search began before the starting fee became outrageous. Most of my family has been found and contacted. I already knew about everyone on my mother''s side due to a search angel but my father''s side was dead end until I hired an intermediary. Everyone on both sides has welcomed me with open arms. I am sooo blessed. On my mother''s side, it seems as if I have been in their lives forever.
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. - Reply to this comment
- I think that adoptees should be allowed. I myself am adopeted and kow nothing of my medical history. I now have a child of my own and worry for him also. I would like to be involved if anyone could get me a contact number.
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- Honestly I never understood why they where sealed considering the fact how are these people (my moms adopted) supposed to find out about there medical history and things this could have really helped my mom when she was a kid and even today it could be helpfull now being a kid myself I could be wrong but I think this is a good idea.
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- Everyone deserves the right to their personal records. Most birth parents were told to "forget"...
I''d like to meet one who has.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyu4E9Bhi9E - Reply to this comment
- I am a first mom; I lost my child to adoption. I think it is the greatest thing that could possibly happen for adoptees. (Open Records) I feel they deserve there heritage, health, and knowledge of there birth family. I mainly feel that they deserve to know there medical history%u2019s. Think about being a person under the pretense of another family, and there heritage.
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.. - Reply to this comment
- Too bad the Birth parents could not be required to fill out somesort of detailed Health summery to be given to the adoptive parents when their children are placed for adoption. Seems like an easy answer to this problem.
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- Too bad the Birth parents could not be required to fill out somesort of detailed Health summery to be given to the adoptive parents when their children are placed for adoption. Seems like an easy answer to this problem.
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- 04/03/1954 - Hialeah, FL. I was adopted and was able to get a copy of all "non-identifying" information from the State of Florida. However, no medical information or history was included. Medical information is all that I want from my file. I know about my birth parents and at this point, have no desire to disrupt their lives. But having access to medical information is not "identifying" information. Just let''s you know the medical problems of the birth parents and their families. What''s the harm in getting this information? It''s aggrevating to continually run up against brick walls. I finally gave up trying about 5 years ago. Will never know if the medical problems I suffer from are hereditary or not. You''re right, we''re treated like second class citizens and have absolutely no rights at all. SHAME ON THE STATES THAT ENFORCE THIS ARBITRARY LAW.
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Ex-NBA ref Tim Donaghy 
