Congratulations Vermonters!
On an otherwise bleak and discouraging news day, a ray of sunshine streaked across AdoptionLand as Vermont Governor Phil Scott signed H629, the bill that restores the right of all Vermont-born adopted people to their Original Birth Certificates. No restrictions! No conditions!
The new law
- restores the right of all Vermont-born adoptees and their descendants to obtain their OBCs with no restrictions or conditions;
- separates OBC access from the Registry where other “identifying information” might be accessed;
- contains a genuine optional Contact Preference Form that replaces all birthparent Disclosure Vetoes on file. Non-disclosures cannot be filed after July 1, 2023.
The law goes into effect on July 1, 2023.
The Vermont victory leaves Massachusetts as the only New England state to hold out, but the passage of H2294 will change that. The bill passed the House last year and is waiting for Senate hearings.
- Bastard Nation Vermont page
- Bastard Nation 2022 Legislation page
- CHECK OUT: New England Adoptee Rights Coalition
New York Adoptee Rights Coalition
Congratulations to everyone affected by this law. And Thank You to everyone who has waited so long, worked so hard, endured so many set backs and so many disappointments to finally at long last to redress so great an injustice and repair so grievous a wound in individual lives and in the body politic!
This bill looks like it is along the lines of what passed in Ohio or New Jersey (depending on how many items of information the birth parent can choose to be held back). I’m curious about why it is being touted as unrestricted. Can you please clarify your stance?
Thanks for asking. The new law is unrestricted. All Vermont-born adoptees can receive their OBCs with no restrictions or conditions, upon request starting July 1, 2023. OBC access is separated from the Registry. DVs that are on file now (or that might be placed before that date) will be rescinded and removed on July 1, 2023. Ohio and New Jersey both contain sun-setted black-outs/DVs (and in the case of NJ, victims of Safe Haven relinquishment are automatically denied access, too). A couple of hundred adopted people in Ohio fell under the blackout provision and cannot receive their unmutilated true OBC–and a handful of post mid-1996 adoptees are DV’d. I really wish that Ohio could fall into the Free States column but so far, it can’t.