Lori's Adoption Page

Earlier this year, I applied for a certified photographic print of my original birth certificate from Vital Statistics. My request was denied on the basis that I was adopted.

According to Alberta Human Rights laws, it is a violation of a person's human rights to deny a person access to provincial government services on the basis of their family status. Family status is defined as being related to someone by blood, marriage or adoption. This is the grounds for my complaint.

All adults born in Alberta who were not adopted - an estimated 98.4 percent, have full access to the original record of their birth. Those who were adopted, cannot get their original birth certificate under any circumstances.

Neither Alberta Vital Statistics, nor the Alberta governmnet has denied that this discrimination is taking place. What they are saying, however, is that the discrimination is justified. But the only justifications that they have given to date are "It's the law", and "confidentiality issues".

The human rights laws in Alberta allow for discrimination ONLY in cases where it can be shown that the discrimination is justified, and that the justification applies to all members of that group.

In the past, there have been many laws that were wrong and that violated human rights. But this does not excuse a violation of human rights. Human rights laws state that if a law is found to unjustly discriminate, that law must be changed. And while the Alberta Human Rights Commission does not have the ability to change a law, they do have the authority to determine that a law unfairly discriminates, and to ORDER the government of Alberta to change the laws to correct the discrimination.

Alberta Vital Statistics offered to me what they think is a "solution" to this problem. They suggested that I should ask the Post-Adoption Registry for my original birth certificate, under the new Alberta law that came into effect December 1st, 1999. This law allows for adopted people to write to Alberta Children's services, provide written permission from and/or proof of death of both birth parents, and then they will obtain our original birth certificate from Vital Statistics, and pass it on to us.

There are some problems with this:

• This new law continues to discriminate against adopted people, by treating us differently than others.
• Every non-adopted adult person born in Alberta has every right to obtain a copy of his or her own original certificate of birth, without permission from any other person! Needing permission to get this document, when it applies to no other person, is demeaning to adopted people.

  Regarding "confidentiality issues" birth parents do not have any legal or basic human rights to be anonymous from their offspring. The Vital Statistics Act is specifically excluded from the provisions of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act. This means that the privacy provisions of the Freedom of Information and Privacy Act can not be used to argue for privacy in regards to documents held by Vital Statistics.

  I am currently in the "mediation" stage of my complaint - which means that I will be meeting with Alberta Vital Statistics to discuss these issues. While I am certain that mediation will not result in an end to my complaint, as Vital Statistics itself does not have the authority to change a law, our mediator thought that it may help to exchange viewpoints. After this, a Human Rights officer will review my complaint, the responses from Municipal Affairs and Vital Statistics, and the additional information provided. At that point, if this person determines that I may have a case, an investigation will commence. If there is an investigation, the information and evidence collected will be reviewed by a Human Rights Tribunal (panel of several people). If the Tribunal finds the law to be discriminatory and unjustified, it can order the government to change the law in such a way that does NOT discriminate against adopted people.

  FACTS:
  

  • Alberta denies all adoptees access to their original birth certificates, regardless of the situation. They are permanently sealed even in the following circumstances:
    • when a child was adopted only because his or her birth parents, who were raising the child, were killed, and there could not have been any perceived need for birth parent anonymity

    • when a child is adopted by close birth relatives

    • when the adoption arrangment is an open one, where all parties know each other

    • in step-parent adoptions, regardless of the wishes of the parent who loses custody

    • when an adult is legally adopted

    • when all parties have been reunited and agree to disclosure

    
    
  • Birth certificates are not sealed in the following circumstances:
    • when a child is given up for adoption, but not adopted - regardless of any wishes of birth parents to be anonymous

    • when a child grows up in foster care, regardless of whether or not that child ever knew any birth relatives

    • when birth certificate amendments are issued for reasons other than adoption (The original is stamped saying that an amendment has been issued, so that it may not be used for identification.)

    
    
  • Birth certificates are unsealed in the following circumstances:
    • when a Native American who has been legally adopted (or his or her legal guardian) requests the document (assuming that the records reflect the information that the adoptee is a Native American)

    
    
  • The vast majority of birth parents do not want anonymity from the children they gave up.

  • The vast majority of birth parents have not kept this a secret from their families.

  • There is NO constitutional right that grants any parent a right to anonymity from their own offspring.

  • For birth parents who have kept the birth a secret from their spouses and children, the risk of being "found out" by a relative or old acquaintance is much higher than by a searching adoptee.

  • Curiosity and even a deep need to know one's own origins is perfectly normal and healthy.

  • People think it's wonderful when non-adopted people want to trace their ancestry, but horrible when an adoptee wants to do the same.

  • The fact that an adoptee wants to search does not mean that there are any problems in the adoptive family.

  • Many adoptees do not want reunions, but do want information.

  • The only way for people adopted in Alberta to get information about their own background is to search for their birth family.

  • People have a habit of saying "adopted children", when they talk about adoption issues, even when the people they are talking about are well past the age of majority.

  • When crimes are reported by the media, they make a point of mentioning if one of the criminals was adopted, as if that explains everything.

  • The vast majority of adoptees are not criminals.

  • The vast majority of adoptees are well-adjusted, functional, tax-paying members of society.

  • Adoptees are the only people born in Alberta who are not allowed access to their own birth certificate or other birth records.

  • Most adoptees do not know their own racial, cultural or ethnic background.

  • Alberta recently endorsed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. Articles 7, 8 and 9 of the Convention give children the right to their name, identity, and the right to know their parents. This specifically mentions the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations. It also says that governments are obligated to provide children with information to help them locate their birth family, if they were separated.

  • The United Nations Rights of the Child prohibits the practice of labelling birth certificates with the marital status of the parents. Alberta has yet to comply with this point. According to both the "Vital Statistics Act" and Alberta's "Legitimation Act", a child can be "legitimized" if the parents marry after the birth. According to that Act, the purpose of this is so that person "is legitimate from birth for all purposes of the law of Alberta". When a child is "legitimized", his or her birth certificate is amended to show this.

  • The word "illegitimate", which is often used to describe children of unwed parents (especially in Alberta Statutes), means to be unlawful, ill-gotten, and not legal. When used to describe a human being, is insulting and degrading.

  • The Alberta Vital Statistics Act still uses the word "illegitimate" to describe children born to unwed mothers.

  • Most of the civilized world recognizes the right of adult adoptees to have unconditional access to their own original birth certificates and/or adoption records. Many of these places did experiment with sealed records between the 1930s and 1970s, but re-opened the records to adoptees when they realized their mistakes. The following places recognize this right:
    • Australia - access for adult adoptees
    • Denmark
    • England - access for adoptees at age 18+
    • Finland - access to all parties (adoptee, adoptive parents and birth parents) at any age
    • France
    • Germany
    • Holland - access for adoptees at age 12+ (was reduced from 14 in 1979)
    • Iceland
    • Ireland
    • Israel - access for adoptees at 18+
    • Korea
    • Mexico
    • Netherlands
    • New Zealand - access for adoptees at age 20+
    • Norway
    • Scotland - access at for adoptees age 17+
    • Sweden
    • United States - Alaska
    • United States - Kansas
    • Wales - access for adoptees at age 18+
    
    
  • Places that allow adoptees unrestricted access to their own original birth certificates and/or adoption records report no significant problems as a result.

  • Abortion rates in places with open records are actually slightly lower than those in places with sealed records.
    

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  A similar human rights complaint was filed by six adoptees in British Columbia on November 4, 1997, and the investigation of these claims is still ongoing. As well, Mike Slayter of Parent Finders is launching a complaint in Nova Scotia.

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  OREGON - 3rd U.S. State To Give Adult Adoptees Unconditional Access To Their Own Original Birth Certificates

  In the U.S. state of Oregon, Measure 58, allowing adoptees aged 21 and over the same right as others to access their own original birth certificate, was passed by voters in November 1998.

  A small group, led by Bill Pierce of the National Council For Adoption (NCFA), a company who makes good money off sealed adoption records, filed a lawsuit to strike down Measure 58.

  On Friday, July 16, 1999, Judge Paul Lipscomb ruled to uphold Measure 58, as there was no evidence to suggest that birth parents had any constitutional right to anonymity from their own offspring. "Plaintiffs have failed to demonstrate either any contractual right to absolute privacy and confidentiality, or any impermissible impairment of any such rights," the judge wrote in his three-page ruling.

  The ruling was appealed by Pierce's group, and on December 29th, 1999, the original ruling was upheld. The state lifted an injunction barring the release of the records.

  Judge Lipscomb noted earlier that original birth certificates of adoptees would remain sealed to the public, and the only person that this law opens the record to is to the one person on earth that it makes any difference to - the adoptee.

  The NCFA appealed the decision twice, and lost both times. Even so, they have taken the matter to the supreme court, and the release of original birth certificates to adoptees has been temporarily halted until a final decision can be made.

  More information can be found at the Oregon Adoptee Rights Initiative Website:
  http://www.plumsite.com/oregon/