The Daily Mail
Thursday, Dec. 3, 1998
Catskill, N.Y., Vol. 119, No. 291
A1, A10.
by Deborah Clemans, Daily Mail Staff Writer.
Christopher Philippo of Rensselaer has spent many long hours searching for information on his birth parents that could answer some vital questions on his own personal history. It has not been an easy task.
Philippo is not alone. His story is one of millions as personal history records are kept a secret from most adoptees, held not only by biological parents, but by state court systems.
This is an issue the national organization Bastard Nation has been working to bring to the forefront for the past three years in an attempt to force state legislators to change sealed adoption record laws.
Today, for National Adoptee Rights Day, Bastard Nation is asking adoptees throughout the nation to support Oregon-born adoptees over the age of 21 who have won the right to receive a copy of their original birth certificate, unamended.
The state of Oregon now joins Kansas and Alaska in the passage of a law allowing adoptees born in those states to legally request copies of unamended birth certificates.
According to officials at the New York State Department of Health, Adoption and Medical Information Registry, when adopted children are born their birth certificates are amended to replace birth parents’ names with that of their adoptive parents.
After the birth, hospital records with biological parental information are sent to the state and sealed forever. In New York and the vast majority of the country, the records cannot be opened unless through a court order and for valid reasons only. Those cases are usually handled by the court where the adoption took place or through a state Supreme Court.
In New York where Vital Records officials say the courts are very conservative and require a compelling reason to unseal any adoption records, adoptees can obtain non-identifying information. That information could include age of birth parents, weight, height, occupations, educational level, religion, and whatever health history may have been shared with the hospital or adoption agency at the time of the birth.
Agency records of non-identifying information or those held by the courts that handled the adoption can be requested by first contacting the state department of Vital Records which will then forward a standard information request form to the agency.
Vital Records officials say that one of the reason [sic] New York courts are so strict on their adoption laws is to protect the privacy rights of the biological parents, many of whom do not wish to be contacted by their birth child.
Bastard Nation members are hoping to inspire adoptees to show solidarity today and celebrate National Adoptee Rights Day by visting, calling or faxing local vital statistics departments and applying for a copy of their original birth certificates.
Members will be available at numerous locations to speak out on what they call the “injustice of permanently sealed records and what we can do to end this system.” Among them will be adoptees whose birth dates were deliberately changed, those who were unable to obtain passports due to amended birth certificates and those who discovered they were adopted as adults by accident.
Vital Records officials say, however, there is nothing they can do for the adoptees whom they say should lobby state legislatures, the only ones who can change the laws.
Philippo explained that Oregon’s new law was a voter initiative ballot passed by the residents of Oregon. Unlike a statewide voter initiative ballot, New York state can hold a public proposition vote where issues must first be passed through the state Senate and Assembly.
There have been bills introduced to the New York State legislature since 1975 trying to give adoptees the right to obtain their original birth certificates and records.
“The adoption registrar that New York has isn’t of much value, particularly since it isn’t publicized,” Philippo said, adding that Bastard Nation realizes that contacting vital statistic departments will not change the law.
Public awareness, he said, is their key objective. “It comes down to having people pressure the legislature. Many people may not be aware that adoptees aren’t able to get this information.”
Anyone wishing to support Adoptee Rights Day can contact the New York state Department of Health, department of Vital Records located at the Empire State Plaza, Corning Tower in Albany.
New York Adoptee Rights Coalition
