Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization
PO Box 4607
New Windsor, New York 2553-7845
614-795-6819
bastardnation3 @gmail.com
bastardnation@ bsky.social
www.bastards.com
Bastard Nation: the Adoptee Rights Organization
PO Box 4607
New Windsor, New York 2553-7845
614-795-6819
bastardnation3 @gmail.com
bastardnation@ bsky.social
www.bastards.com
TO: Members of the Utah Senate Health and Human Services Committee
FROM: Marley Greiner, Executive Chair
RE: HB129 and Substitute HB 129 S-1: Adoption Records Access and Amendment
OPPOSE: HB 129 Sub Bill/HB 129 -S 1
SUPPORT: HB 129 as written
DATE: February 11, 2025
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 support passage of HB 129 as written.
We oppose passage of the Substitute Bill HB 129 S-1
Current Utah law limits adopted people from obtaining their OBCs and other adoption information by requiring consent of biological parents to release the documents. If both parents appear on the OBC and one does not give consent, that name will be redacted. This procedure is humiliating, archaic, infantilizing, and out-of-step with current post-adoption practice and adoption ethics. The Not Adopted, of course, do not have to withstand government scrutiny to receive their birth certificates and no one asks why they want them.
The original HB 129 does away with this antiquated legal process and restores the right of all Utah-born adopted people to obtain their OBCs upon request at the age of 18 with no restrictions or conditions. The adoptee would simply fill out a form and submit it directly to the appropriate department for a nominal fee. The bill frees Utah-born adoptees from state-imposed stigma, secrecy. and discriminatory laws, and treats them like the Not Adopted.
The original HB 129, until a few days ago, had no known opposition. It was agreed by all, to be a sound forward-looking measure in line with current adoption practice. Now 1 legislator has thrown a wrench into it with HB 129 S-1, endangering the restoration of the civil rights of Utah-born adoptees.
The proposed Substitute HB 129 S-1 might look good to some of you, since under it current Utah adult adoptees would get their OBCs without state interference and supervision. Utah adoptees under the age of majority and all future adoptees, however, would not enjoy that same right.
Under HB 129 S-1, a biological parent could petition a court up until the adopted child is 18 to keep the records sealed by claiming release would place them in “reasonable fear of harm,” or for otherwise “good cause, “neither of which is defined. The petition would take effect when the adoptee turns 18 (no matter when it is originally submitted) and is renewable every 10 years. How would someone prove that they had “a reasonable fear of harm? What does that even mean? What happens if the names of both biological parents are on the document and one of them files a successful petition? In effect the decision to seal is left at the whim of a judge, and it’s business as usual.
Of course, if the child is never adopted or the adoption is overturned the record would not be sealed.
Ultimately, HB 129-S-1 denies due process to the adoptee tossed into its black hole, and could raise a constitutional challenge.
15 states acknowledge the right of its adopted people to access their original birth certificates. We hope that Utah follows their lead and becomes a leader itself.
Please support Utah’s adoptees and bring the state into 2025. Reject HB 129 S-1 and Vote DO PASS on the original SB 129 as written. Thank you.
