Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization
PO Box 4607
New Windsor, New York 12553-7845
bastardnation3@gmail.com
bastards.org 614-795-6819 @BastardsUnite
__________
HB 0059 Original Birth Certificate Access
Idaho House Judiciary, Rules & Administration Committee
March 3, 2021
Written Submitted Testimony in Opposition
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.
We write today in opposition to HB 0059 We urge you to vote Do Not Pass.
This bill allegedly restores the right of Idaho-born adoptees to obtain their Original Birth Certificates upon request at the age of 18 or older without restrictions or conditions. Unfortunately, this bill does not do that.
The bill is prospective. It pertains only to those adopted on or after July 1, 2021, the date the bill would go into effect. In practical terms, the law could not be used until 2039 long after any perceived controversy that might surround passage is dead.
The hard truth is that no Idaho -born adoptee alive today falls into HB 0059’s parameters Thousands of Idaho adoptees living today are ignored, shuttled aside, and left behind in the sealed and secret adoption system, to fight another battle on another day.
Privacy v Anonymity
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.
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. Please remember that the OBCs of persons with established relationships with biological parents as in stepparent and foster adoptions are also sealed .
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.
Technology Makes Sealed OBCs Obsolete
Accessible low-cost commercial DNA testing, social media, and a large network of volunteer “search angels” that locate hidden information and histories for adoptees and their families make sealed birth records a relic of the past. Thousands of successful adoption searches happen each year—many in Idaho alone—making adoption secrecy virtually impossible. The minuscule number of birthparents or 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.
Conclusion
HB 0059 should be rejected as discriminatory.
