Texas
Sealed: 1957
Access Status: Sealed
- Court order
- Adoptees 18 years of age or older who also know the identities of their birth parents may obtain a non-certified copy of their OBC without the need for a court order.
- Voluntary Central Adoption Registry
Through a special arrangement with the Adoptee Rights Law Center, Bastard Nation is linking our individual state pages to ARLC state access law links and summaries. In addition. our state pages include information specific to Bastard Nation actions and activities in each state and about current OBC access.
- Current access law and expanded summary
- Texas Legislature
- History of OBC-related bills in Texas, from 2005
2021 Legislation: HB1386/SB1877 (OBC) HB683 (Safe Haven) SB443/HB1843 (Safe Haven Baby Boxe)
2019 Legislation: HB2725
******
Texas Adoptee Rights Coalition
GLARE (Gladney Adoptees for Rights and Equality), Bastard Nation, and the Adoptee Rights Law Center.
Resources
- TxARC webpage
- TxARC Facebook
- TxARC Twitter
- Adoptees for Equality Facebook
- Adoptees for Equal RIghts Twitter
- Gladney Adoptees for Rights and Equality Facebook
- Gladney Adoptees fo Rights and Equality Twitter
- Report: Texas: Setting the Records Straight (History of Texas sealed records & more)
VIDEO from TxARC: Our Time is Now
Again! VIctory in Texas House – April 2023!
Victory in Texas House – April 8, 2021
ONE Senator refuses to let Senate hear bill!
One Step Closer to Victory! Texas Bastards win in the House, 144-1!
____________________
Hearing in Texas House Public Health Committee, March 17, 2021
____________________
TxARC at the American Adoption Congress Conference,
Washington, DC, April 3, 2019
******
******
Smithlawn Special Report: Adoption Secrecy: The Month the Gloves Came Off. 2010
Links
- 2023
Texas Adoptee Rights Advocacy Day, Texas Statehouse, March 21, 2023 Texas is In! Drops It’s Bill, Bastard Nation, February 8, 2023
- Texas SB780: Bastard Nation/SSHBBN Letter of Opposition to SB870, Senate Health and Human Services Committee, March 7,2023
- VIDEO: Hearing in Senate Health and Human Services Committee, March 8, 2023 (Marker 20:00)
- Texas HB2006: Bastard Nation Comments to House Public Health Committee for April 3 Hearing, April 1 2023t
- One Down: Hearing on HB2006 Goes Well, TxArc, April 6,2023 (includes video of hearing and links to letter of support)
######
- When Your Birth Is a State Secret, Texas Observer, June 8, 2021
- Speech at Rally for Adoptee Equality, Texas Statehouse, by Marley Greiner, Exe. Chair of Bastard Nation, May 20, 2021
- Action Alert: Rally for Adoptee Equality, May 21, 2021, May 20, 2021
- Mother’s Day 2021: A Time for Reckoning for Adopted Individuals in Texas by Alicia Lanier (My Unspeakable Loss), May 5, 2021
- 13 Reasons to Enact HB1386, TxArc, May 4, 2021
- Dallas Morning News Editorial Board Endorses HB1386/SB1877, April 30, 2021 (includes link to editorial)
- Opinion: Adoptees’ right to their birth certificates is long overdue, Austin American-Statesman ,April 22, 2021
- Adoptee rights bill takes big step forward towards expanding access to birth certificates, WOAI-TV San Antonio, April 10, 2021
- A Great Morning for Texas Adoptees, by Shawna Hodgson/TxARC, March 20, 2021
- Texas: HB 1843 – In Opposition. Safe Haven Baby Boxes, House Human Services Committee, March 23, 2021 (personal letter)
- VIDEO: House Public Health Committee Hearing, March 17, 2021 (includes BN oral testimony) (Marker 120:00
- Letters of support for HB1386, House Public Health Committee, March 17, 2021
- Texas: Testimony in Support of HB 1386 by Shawna Hodgson/Texas Adoptee Rights Coalition, March 17, 2021
- Bastard Nation Testimony in Support of Texas HB 1386, House Public Health Committee, March 17, 2021
- Texas HB 683 Seeks to Expand Baby Moses Abandonment Age to 1-Year. Why We Oppose by Marley Greiner, March 17, 2021
- VIDEO: House Juvenile Justice & Family Issues Committee Hearing on HB 683: Extension of Baby Moses to 1-year, March 15, 2021
- Letter: Texas HB 683 Baby Moses age expansion to 1-year. Please oppose. March 15, 2021
- Adult Adoptees are Fighting for the Right to Access Their Own Birth Certificates, Texas Monthly, March 14, 2021
- HB 1386: CWLA Letter of Support, March 4, 2021
- HB 1386: National Center for Adoption & Permanency Letter of Support, February 14, 2021
- HB 1386: North American Council on Adoptable Children Letter of Support, February 4, 2021
- HB 1386: American Adoption Congress Letter of Support, February 3, 2021
- Introducing Texas HB1386, TxARC, February 2, 2021
- Gladney Goes Full Georgia Tann, Daily Bastardette, August 5, 2020
-
After a teen’s death, Texas cuts ties with a rural foster care facility, then gets a tongue-lashing from a federal judge. Texas Tribune, September 3, 2020
######
- Texas has Defied Expectations. Or has it? Adoptee Rights Law Center, May 8. 2019
- Bastard Nation Letter to Texas House. Restore right of OBCs to adoptees, Please vote Do Pass AS WRITTEN, May 7, 2019
- TXARC Statement and Action Alert: HB2725, May 6, 2019
- Texas HB2725 and Sub Bill are dead, Bastard Nation, May 2, 2019
- Bastard Nation Letter: Texas: HB2725 Substitute Bill. Please kill it!–Restricted Original Birth Certificate access for adoptees, April 28,2019
Action Alert: Texas HB2725. Contact Public Health Committee Members: No to Inequality, April 27, 2019 - STAR: Which Side Are You On?, Daily Bastardette, April 26, 2019
- Twinkle, Twinkle Little STAR, Bastard Nation, April 20, 2019 (cross-posted to Daily Bastardette)
- Recommended Reading: Toeing the Bottom Line (TX2725), Bastard Nation, April 18. 2019
- Towing the Bottom Line, by Greg Luce, Adoptee Rights Law Center, April 18, 2019
- American Adoption Congress Letter to Rep Calanni on HB2725, April 17, 2019
- Texas HB2725 Is Dead. It’s Time to Unite for Next Time, TxArc, April 17, 2019
- Gladney’s Adoptive Parents Bill if Rights: What does it mean for adoptee rights, Marley Greiner, April 8, 2019
- TxARC./Bastard Nation Action Alert, HB2725, House Public Health Committee, Vote Do Pass! April 7, 2019
- Blossoms Awards 2019: Gladney awards itself for its good work, Daily Bastardette, April 6, 2019
- Report: Texas: Setting the Records Straight, Texas Adoptee Rights Coalition, March 27, 2019
- TxARC HB2725 Non-Action Action Alert, March 15, 2019
- Rep. Calanni Files a Clean Bill in the House, Texas Adoptee Rights Coalition, February 28, 2019
- Commentary: It’s our right: Why Texas should legislate access to birth certificates by Pamela Crawford, Austin Statesman, February 18, 2019
-
My New Town, Moody, Texas: 91 year old adoptee finds birth family, Daily Bastardette, November 26, 2019
######
- Fires, Floods, and Flying Monkeys by Shawna Hodgeson, TxARC, December 31, 2018
- Announcement: Support Texas Adoptee Rights Coalition December 10, 2018
- Texas Adoptee Rights
- Coalition: Why a Coalition by Shawna Hodgson, TxARC, December 7, 2018
- Adult adoptees deserve access to information, Abilene Reporter-News, April 7, 2018
###
- Bastard Nation Letter of Support for HB329, April 24, 2017
- Bastard Nation Action Alert: Support for Texas HB329, April 16, 2017
- Senate Committee considers adoption legislation, Texas Tribune, March 27, 2017
###
-
- Bastard Nation Statement on Defeat of Texas HB 984. June 1, 2015
-
- Why I Still Lobby by Carolyn Evaine Counterman, May 25, 2015
-
- Bastard Nation Action Alert – Vote No on Texas HB 984, May 15, 2015
###
- “Sip & See Celebration:” Gladney’s legacy of love for “birthmothers,” Daily Bastardette, April 22, 2014
###
- AdoptionLand Incest: Continues: Craig Juntunen from Both Ends Burning Shills for Gladney, Daily Bastardette, October 3, 2013
- Gladney Renounces Re-Homing, Daily Bastardette, September 30, 2013
- Texas father seeking child custody after mother abandons baby, Sisemore Law Firm, August 23, 2013
- Gladney: Coincidence or Disaster Adoptionism? Daily Bastrdette, January 13, 2013
###
- Bastard Nation Testimony in Opposition to SB287, March 23, 2011
###
- Blank Slate 2: More Texas shenanigans for National Adoption Awareness Month, Daily Bastardette, November 24, 2010
- Texas Blank Slate: Adopters have no right to background information, Daily Bastardette, November 22, 2010
###
###
- Baby Dumping Texas Style, Daily Bastardette, February 19, 2007
###
- Texas:”She’s Done Stories on Them: “News editor arrested in dump case, Daily Bastardette, April 14, 2006
######
Prying open the past, Dallas Observer, June 6, 2000
######
Adopt Reforms, Daily Texan, April 1997
Updated <ay 5, 2023
nk]
