CONDITIONAL ACCESS LEGISLATION
Conditional access legislation is any system that is less than access on demand to adult adoptees of their original birth documents, without compromise and without qualification.
What is a Contact Veto?
A contact veto provision in a records access law allows birth parents to file an affidavit with the government stating that they do not want to have any contact with their relinquished adult biological children. Violation of a contact veto may subject an adopted adult to criminal penalties. A contact veto is a restraining order imposed by one citizen upon another with no cause shown, and without benefit of due process. It is issued entirely on the basis of the adoptive status of an individual and is without recourse.
While birth parents are well within their rights to refuse contact from the other party, they should not be granted a special status whereby they can legally restrain an adoptee before any such contact has even taken place. Laws already exist to protect all citizens against stalking and harassment.
What is a Disclosure Veto?
A disclosure veto allows birth parents to block the state from issuing original birth documents to their adult biological offspring. Disclosure vetoes appear to vest birth parents with a “right to privacy” or a “right to confidentiality” which in reality does not exist. Disclosure vetoes are based on the premise that adopted adults are perpetual children who must have their birth parents’ tacit permission to access their own birth certificates.
In recent years bills have appeared in several states, most notably New Jersey, which conflate the Contact Veto with the Disclosure Veto and label it a “Contact Preference Form” which a birthparent can submit their “preference” for contact to the state. The “preference” in fact, serves not only as a Contact Veto but the the OBC will remain sealed. To make matters worse, to “activate” the vetoes, the birthparent is required to submit an intrusive government created medical history to the state to be passed on anonymously to the adoptee if and when the OBC is requested. Bastard Nation condemns strongly this state-sponsored extortion and “reform” organizations which push it. We plan to write a policy paper on this shortly.
What is the Confidential Intermediary System?
This system provides for the state or agency to assign an adopted adult’s request for information or their birth certificate to an approved intermediary. This individual will usually have access to the adopted adult’s files, control what, if any, information is given, and mediate any contact with the birth parent. It presumes that adopted adults are incompetent to manage their own personal affairs.
What is a Registry?
A mutual consent registry is a method for adult adoptees and birth parents to search for one another. It is irrelevant to the issue of equal rights for adopted persons.
All conditional access legislation is an affront to the dignity and self-respect of adopted adults. Adoptees have an unconditional right to access the records of their birth in the same manner as any other citizen.
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