Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization
bastards.org 614-372-5535 @BastardsUnite
HB 2725 Original Birth Certificate Access
House Public Health Committee
Submitted Testimony in Support
Submitted by
Marley E. Greiner. Executive Chair
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.
Bastard Nation is a founding member of the Texas Adoptee Rights Coalition. In fact, we have worked to secure equal OBC access in Texas for over 20 years. We fully support HB2725, as written, to restore the right of all Texas adoptees, without restriction or condition, to access a copy of their Original Birth Certificates upon request.
HB2725, an inclusive bill. It
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Restores the right of all Texas-born adoptees, at age 18, to obtain non-certified copies of their own original birth certificates upon request;
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Allows adoptee descendants, adult siblings, surviving spouses, or adoptive parents of deceased adoptees to request and obtain adoptees’ original birth certificates;
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Contains a genuine contact preference form (CPF) that allows birthparents to voluntarily submit a statement of preference regarding contact, but does not veto the release of the OBC or permit redaction or other clerical changes or alterations to the OBC;
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Allows birthparents to voluntarily file a confidential supplemental state-generated medical history form that would provide additional information to the adoptee;
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Requires adoption agencies to inform birthparents of the provisions of the new law and the availability of the Contact Preference Form.
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Unrestricted OBC access is not a “privacy” or “birthparent confidentiality” issue.
“Privacy” “confidentiality,” and “anonymity” are not synonymous either legally or linguistically, nor in practice has it ever been possible. HB2725 does not open OBCs to the public but only to adoptees at age of majority or legally designated individuals.
In theory, Texas already recognizes the right of OBC access, but under limited circumstances. Adoptees 18 years of age or over may receive non-certified copy of their OBC by successfully petitioning a court of competent jurisdiction
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without a court order if they know the identities of their birthparents
HB2725 simply levels the playing field by treating all of the state’s adoptees, which reportedly number about 500,000 individuals, to the same access and due process as the small number of adoptees already OBC eligible, and the entire population of the not-adopted
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. At a time when adoption was considered shameful, it was the sealed system designed to maintain biological privilege and status, and let adoptive families “pass.”
Family Courts can and do grant the opening of OBCs and other adoption records requests without notice to or input from the birthparent(s). Moreover, 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 40 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.” 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.
Records access is the keystone of adoption reform in the US today. It is considered best standards practice adoption and by child welfare professionals.
The influential American Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys, which for years opposed access, last year passed a monumental resolution in support of adoptees’ right to full access to our OBC, court, and agency records. The resolution reads in part:
THEREFORE IT IS RESOLVED, that the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys supports the inherent rights of adult adopted persons to their personal biological family information and to have access to their:
1. original birth certificates;
2. agency records which relate to them and their biological family; and
3. court records of their adoption.
IT IS FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Academy of Adoption and Assisted Reproduction Attorneys supports the inherent right of adult adopted persons to access and obtain these records regardless of when their adoption occurred.
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 Texas alone—making adoption secrecy virtually impossible. The minuscule number of birthparents or so-called “professionals” who believe that restricted OBC or 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.
But…
OBC access is not about search and reunion.
Access is about the right to one’s own state-held birth record. Rights are for all, not some. Clearly, Texas law discriminates against the state’s adoptees with a nearly blanket restriction with exceptions for a privileged minority.
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. A half-million Texas adoptees are denied birth record access. Think about this: That is more than the population of Arlington or Corpus Christi. SB2725 will give them full rights and privileges.
SB2725 and its sponsors get it right. SB2725 creates equal birth certificate access for all Texas adoptees. It treats the state’s adoptees as equal with the not-adopted. It stops the humiliating onerous legal (and sometimes costly) process for adoptees simply to get their own birth certificates. SB2725 reflects the simple inclusive, unrestricted access process that nine states have on the books (Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Kansas, New Hampshire, Maine, Oregon, Rhode Island)
There is no tenable reason to maintain segregated and restricted OBC access. Let Texas be a leader in adoptee equality and adoption reform. Please return unrestricted and unconditional OBC access to Texas adoptees. Please vote DO PASS on SB2725 PASS. It’s the right thing to do!
New York Adoptee Rights Coalition
