Congratulations to Arizona!
The Arizona House just passed HB 2600 The bill restores the right of OBC access to all Arizona adoptees. The bill now goes to the Senate.
Heritage Arizona, the grassroots organization that brought this bill is not affiliated with Bastard Nation, but we fully support their work. They made it look easy–but it’s not.
Below is the letter Bastard Nation sent
to each member of the House.
PO Box 4607
New Windsor, New York 12553-7845
bastards.org 614-795-6819 @BastardsUnite
Dear Rep. ____________
Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization is the largest adoptee civil rights organization in the United States. We support only full unrestricted access for all adopted persons, to their original birth certificates (OBC) and related documents.
We are happy to support passage of SHB2600 an inclusive bill that restores that right of Original Birth Certificate access to all adopted Arizona adoptees with no restrictions or conditions at the age of 18.
We urge you to support this bill and pass it into law. No restrictions. No conditions.
Arizona has a long,curious and confusing history of adoptee records access. Before 1945 OBCs were open to the adoptee and the general public. In 1952 OBCs were closed to the public but still open to the adoptee. In 1967 OBCs were sealed to all adoptees. In 1997 OBCs were unsealed to a select few adoptees whose adoptions had been finalized 75 years ago or longer(!) Then in 2004 OBCs were again sealed to all adoptees This jumble of yes, no maybe, and no again makes no sense, especially now in an era of openness and transparency in adoption and the unsealing of adoption records around the country
Unrestricted OBC access is not a “privacy” or “birthparent confidentiality” issue. In fact, “privacy” “confidentiality,” and” anonymity” are not synonymous either legally or linguistically.
There is no evidence in any state that records were sealed to “protect” the reputation or “privacy” of biological parents who relinquished children for adoption. On the contrary, records were sealed to protect the reputations of “bastard children” and to protect adoptive families from birthparent interference.
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Courts have ruled that adoption anonymity does not exist. (Doe v Sundquist, et. al., 943 F. Supp. 886, 893-94 (M.D. Tenn. 1996) and Does v. State of Oregon, 164 Or. App. 543, 993 P.2d 833, 834 (1999).
Laws change constantly, and the state, lawyers, social workers, and others were never in a position to promise anonymity in adoption. In fact, in the over 50 years of the adoptee equality battle, not one document has been submitted anywhere that promises or guarantees sealed records and an anonymity “right” to birthparents.
Identifying information about surrendering parents often appears in court documents given to adoptive parents who can at any point give that information to the adopted person. (In some states adoptive parents, at the time of the adoption order, can petition the court to keep the record open.) The names of surrendering parents are published in legal ads. Courts can open “sealed records” for “good cause” without birthparent consent or even knowledge. Critically, the OBC is sealed at the time of adoption finalization, not surrender. If a child is not adopted, the record is never sealed. If a child is adopted, but the adoption is overturned or disrupted, the OBC is unsealed.
The influential American Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys in 2018 passed a monumental resolution in support of adoptees’ right to full access to our OBC, court, and agency records.
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Legislation needs to catch up with technological reality. We are well into the 21st century. The information superhighway grows wider and longer each day, and adoptees and their birth and adoptive families are riding it, utilizing the Internet, social media, inexpensive and accessible DNA testing services, and a large network of volunteer “search angels” to locate their government-hidden information and histories. Thousands of successful adoption searches happen each year—many in Arizona alone—making adoption secrecy virtually impossible. The minuscule number of birthparents or so-called “professionals” who believe that restricted OBC/records access or no access equals adoption anonymity are greatly mistaken. The fact is, nearly all successful searches are done without the OBC and other court documents.
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OBC access is not about search and reunion. It is about the right to one’s own state-held birth record. Rights are for all, not some. Clearly, Arizona’s strange set of OBC access laws has discriminated against generations of the state’s adoptees.
There is no state interest in keeping original birth certificates sealed from adult adoptees to which they pertain. Nor does the state have a right or duty to mediate and oversee the personal relationships of adults. Those who claim a statutory right to parental anonymity through sealed records promote statutory privilege and state favoritism.
HB2600 creates equal birth certificate access for all Arizona adoptees. It treats the state’s adoptees as equal with the not-adopted, It reflects the simple inclusive, unrestricted access process that ten states have on the books (Kansas, Alaska, Oregon, Alabama, Colorado, New Hampshire, Maine, Rhode Island, Hawaii, and New York.)
New York’s 4o-year battle for OBC access ended when on January 15, OBCs were opened to all New York adoptee s upon request without restriction. In only three days, over 3,600 adoptees filed for their record of birth. The bill in which unsealed records was passed 196-12. Arizona can certainly do the same.
Please support Arizona in being a leader in adoptee equality and adoption reform. Turn that yes, no, maybe, no around to a permanent yes for everyone when HB2600 hits the House floor. It’s the right thing to do!
Sincerely yours,
Marley E. Greiner
Executive Chair
New York Adoptee Rights Coalition
