Tag: Virginia

There is no state interest in keeping original birth certificates sealed from adult adoptees to whom they pertain nor does the state have a right or duty to mediate and oversee the personal relationships of adults. The debate on the release of OBCs to its adopted citizens is small v large government issue. Small government should win this one.

Adopted people in 16 states have unrestricted access to their OBCs, including all of New England and 3 deep South conservative states (Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia). Not a single negative report about unsealing has been published. OBC access, through the efforts of policy and lawmakers is being normalized. Adoptees are beginning to be treated just like the Not Adopted.

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Current Virginia law severely limits adopted people from obtaining their OBCs and other adoption information. Adoptees must petition a court for release of the information for “good cause” or a state agency can release it, again for “good cause.” “Good cause,” however, is not defined by law and is left up to individual interpretation. Both processes are humiliating, time-consuming, infantilizing, and rarely successful. They can also be expensive. The Not Adopted, of course, do not have to stand bureaucratic scrutiny to receive their birth certificates

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