Amanda's Guide to Adoptee Rights

Answering the Questions
Dispelling the Myths and the Stereotypes with Accurate Information

What is Adoptee Rights?
Adoptee Rights is a Civil Rights Movement that began in the 1950's with Jean Patton.  It seeks to restore the right of adult adoptees to access their own original birth certificates the same way all other citizens born in the U.S. do.  The Adoptee Rights Movement is about restoring respect, autonomy, and equality to adoptees who have reached the age of majority.

Original Birth Certificates?....Amending?....Sealing?
When a child is born in any given state, the Vital Statistics office collects and records birth information which is issued in the form of a birth certificate to the person whose birth was recorded.  When a child is adopted, their birth certificate becomes sealed and an amended one is issued in its place.  The amended certificate presents their adoptive parents as though they are the parents who gave birth and the adoptee is often given a new name.  Sometimes other information has been found to be incorrect from one document to another, such as race/ethnicity.

Are original birth certificates sealed to protect the privacy of surrendering parents?
No.  This process was designed to hide the identity of the adopted person by changing the adoptee's identity, sealing the old document, and issuing a new one, so that their original parents could not locate them.  Amending and sealing began in Tennessee in the 1930's to hide illegal adoptions.  It quickly spread throughout the U.S. under the claim that amending and sealing was necessary to hide the "illegitimate" labels which were once placed on the birth certificates of children born out of wedlock.  The practice of changing the adoptee's identity and sealing the original birth record was also defended as a way to keep the surrendering parents, who were often stigmatized due to poverty and single parenthood status, from finding and interfering with the adoptive family.

Does taking away an adult adoptee's right to their own original birth certificate lower abortion rates?
No.  Disallowing adult adoptees to see their own factual birth documentation has nothing to do with and no impact on abortion rates.  Abortion vs. adoption is a false dichotomy based on stereotypes of women and adoption.  We can see from the states that allow adult adoptees to access their original birth certificates that these fears are absolutely unfounded.

What is the Impact of Treating Adoptees Unequally?

• In various ways, adoptees robbed of their equal rights experience adultism, racism, and classism, to name a few.

• Adult Adoptees are regarded by law as a sub-class with fewer rights than others.

• Adult Adoptees are regarded by law as perpetual children, forever bound to alleged agreements made on their behalf as minors when they were unable to consent.

• Because an Adult Adoptee may not obtain their Original Birth Certificate, they therefore cannot view their proof of U.S. Citizenship.  They are legally deprived of Original Identity and access to heritage.  Because they may not view their factual birth documentation, they are unable to verify the information they know about themselves is correct.  Date and place of birth are two of the most fundamental elements of any person's identity and Adult Adoptees are the only class of citizens unable to view proof of these fundamental elements of their own identities
• Adoptee dis-empowerment.  Adoptees not being treated as though their rights matter leads to adoptees being ignored or not feeling as though speaking their experiences will matter.  Thus, important narratives and information is lost.
• Stereotypes.  Record sealing, secrecy, and lack of access to truth leads to misconceptions and stereotypes which are belittling and oppressive to adoptees.
• Many adoptees have difficulty getting passports, driver's licenses, and security clearance for certain jobs. 

What about the "confidentiality" of surrendering parents?
There is scant evidence of promises of confidentiality to surrendering parents.

• Not one signed surrender document has ever been presented showing any promise of confidentiality being agreed to.
• A birth record is not sealed at the time of surrender but at the decree of adoption, which could be months or years after the surrender takes place.  A mother who signs the surrender documents agrees she has no rights; no right to be present at a hearing and no right to even be informed an adoption is taking place.  If she has no right to be notified of anything past the time of surrender, how can anyone promise her when and if a birth record will be sealed?  Until an adoption takes place, a child retains their original birth certificate and original name.  Individuals who are surrendered but never adopted, such as those who age out of the foster care system, never have their birth certificates sealed.  If an adoption is overturned, the birth certificate becomes unsealed.
• Surrendering parents do not seal birth certificates.  It is an automatic act of the state upon decree of adoption.
• Adult adoptees discover the names of their original parents (and vice versa), without access to their original birth certificates, as a regular occurance in this country.  It's a small world we live in.  Often adoptees and their original families live in the same states and the same towns and have mutual connections through work, family, and friends.  Promises of perpetual confidentiality are unfair, unrealistic, and unreasonable.
• "There has been scant evidence that birthmothers were explicitly promised anonymity from the children they relinquished for adoption." -Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, Policy perspective: for the records, 2007

What is the difference between "privacy" and secrecy?

Privacy" and "secrecy" are not the same.  All U.S. Citizens, Birth Parents included, are guaranteed privacy as a constitutional right.  There are safeguards that already exist for all citizens in the law.  Violating the rights of Adult Adoptees by withholding factual birth documentation is an unnecessary and unfair measure.  Secrecy in adoption, as keeping birth records seals perpetuates, keeps adoptees from knowing fundamental information about themselves.  This is wrong.

• "There can be no legally protected interest in keeping one's identity secret from one's biological offspring; parent and child are considered co-owners of the information regarding the event of the birth." -Federal Register, Model State Adoption Act, 1980

• The Oregon Court of Appeals determined that a birth mother has no "fundamental right to have her child adopted under circumstances that guarantee that her identity will not be revealed to the child." -Oregon Court of Appeals, Jane Does v. the State of Oregon, No.98C-20424; CA A107235, 1999
• Birth records have nothing to do with privacy.  If the release of a birth record was a violation of a parent's privacy then no one, adopted or not, would be able to access it without their parents' permission.  However, no one, regardless of family drama or issues, is denied access or has to ask their parents to see their own birth certificate, except one class of people: adoptees.

What about parents who don't want to be found or reunite?

• Adoptee Rights is about equal rights; not reunion.  Reunion is a private matter.  Equality is everyone's business.
• State government should not seek to control interpersonal communication and relationships between private citizens by withholding an adult adoptee's factual birth documentation.

• No other citizen is ever questioned by the government when asking for their Birth Certificate.  The assertion that adoptees qualify to be treated differently is offensive and discriminatory.
• "There has been no evidence that the lives of birthmothers have been damaged as a result of the release of information to their children (now adults) whom they relinquished for adoption." -Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, Policy perspective: for the records, 2007

Are state mandated confidential intermediaries the answer?

No.  No measure should take the place of treating adult adoptees the same way all other citizens are treated.  There's evidence that Passive Mutual Consent Registries are largely ineffective, but  Confidential Intermediary systems where State intermediaries are appointed to actively seek out original parents to ask for their permission to release the OBC are not acceptable either.  Foremost, they do not address an Adult Adoptee's right to the same level of access to information about themselves as non-adopted citizens.  Second, allowing an Adult Adoptee access to their Original Birth Certificate, which they may or may not use to search (and certainly do not need it to search) is much less invasive than government intrusion into the lives of Adult Adoptees and Birth Parents.  The State government should not be given permission to micromanage access to birth documentation in attempt to control interpersonal communication between private citizens, especially when this is a rights issue, not a reunion issue.

Is this an important issue?  Does it really matter?

This is absolutely an important issue.  Equality matters.  Removing institutionalized discrimination from the law matters.  Riding the law of the assertion that surrendering parents' names should be hidden should be hidden in shame matters.  Having information about your life from birth forward matters.

Equality is a civil right.  Access to your entire identity is a basic human right.  Yes, it matters.

Tips for When Contacting Legislators

• Keep letters short and simple.  One page.
• Use professional and proper letter-writing format.
• Address the legislator appropriately e.g. "Honorable John Smith."
• Briefly summarize the law in your state.  Briefly point out why it is wrong.
• Ask them to write legislation allowing Adult Adoptees access to their Original Birth Certificate that is EQUAL to how non-adopted citizens access theirs.
• Follow-up.

Some Terminology & Suggestions
And other stuff....

OBCs vs. Adoption Records

Original Birth Certificates are government-held documents.  Adoption records are records recording regarding the adoption and those being counselled by the agency.  Original Birth Certificates and adoption record access should be kept separate to avoid confusion.

What is a "Clean-Access" Bill?

A "clean-access" bill is one that restores an Adult Adoptee unconditional, uncensored access to their own original birth certificate.  The only "exception" is a "contact preference" where First Parents may state that they do or do not want to be contacted but it should never be legally binding (as in an actual "Contact Veto").


What Makes a Bill "Dirty?"

• Disclosure Veto: where First Parents can deny an Adult Adoptee access to their OBC.
• Contact Veto: a restraining order that allows an Adult Adoptee access to their OBC conditional upon them signing a State-mandated restraining order, giving up their rights as free citizens and submitting to a punishment for which there has been no due-process, for the "crime" of being adopted.
• Confidential Intermediary: this is a government sanctioned agency that actively seeks out First Parents/First Mothers, intrudes in their lives and the lives of the Adult Adoptee, and asks First Parent permission for release of the OBC.  In addition to making the rights of the Adult Adoptee conditional upon permission from another U.S. adult citizen, they often segment Adult Adoptees by (1) condemning those who are denied or whose First Parents cannot be found with fewer rights and (2) alienating Adult Adoptees who cannot afford these expensive systems.
• Passive Mutual Consent Registry:  A Passive Mutual Consent Registry keeps requests for access and consents for access on file but does not actively seek anyone out for their permission.  (1) people who do not know about these registries cannot register with them (2) First Parents who have died cannot register and these Adult Adoptees are left hanging (3) passive registries do not address an Adult Adoptee's right to be treated like all other citizens.  They are notorious for low match rates, are largely ineffective, and do not address an adoptee's right to equality.

Adult Adoptees are not "Children."
Adoptee Rights restores OBC access to adults, not children. It is belittling to refer to a group of adults as "children."  "Descendants" or "sons and daughters" is a more respectful alternative.

OBC Access is not About Health History
Arguing to access OBCs based on health history implies an adoptee is using their OBC to find their original family to ask them for health history.  This suggests that the state should be involved with communication between citizens which is a violation of everyone's privacy.  There is generally no health history information pertaining to hereditary conditions on an Original Birth Certificate.  Having one's OBC doesn't mean they are going to be able to find anyone using it.

More Facts:

• 6 million people in the U.S. are adopted.
• Infant adoption is one of the rarest forms of adoption.  Adoptions where an adoptee is most likely to already know the identities of their original parents are the most common (e.g. 50% of adoptions are by step-parents), yet their birth certificates are sealed any way.
• Alaska, Kansas, New Hampshire, Oregon, Alabama, Maine, and Rhode Island all treat adult adoptees equally to all other citizens.
• Alaska and Kansas do not and have never sealed original birth certificates of the adopted.

Learn About the Laws in Your State:
See more info here.